What cancer likes or hates

A diet high in sugar prevents the body from getting rid of dead cells which then grow at a rapid rate. Avoid refined sugars

What you need to know:

As lethal as cancer is, oncologists believe that with change in lifestyles, many can keep the disease at bay, writes Beatrice Nakibuuka

Cancer is an uncontrollable growth of cells in the body. They may have been damaged by toxins, overwhelmed with harmful substances or have been overstressed.
Everyone has hundreds of cancer cells in their body, but most are either being repaired or removed by the body’s automatic repair. Those that grow faster than they can be removed, grow until they are big enough to form a tumour or cancer.
According to Dr Noleb Mugisha, an oncologist at Uganda Cancer Institute, when the rate of damage exceeds the rate of removal, the bad cells begin to grow until they reach a point where the growth becomes uncontrollable and a tumour or cancer is formed.
“Many do not realise that the simple things like how much sugar we consume, whether or not we exercise, how stressed we are, the amount of time we spend outside in the sun and even how much animal versus plant foods we eat could be the silent factors that will determine whether we win or lose this battle against cancer,” he remarks.

Cancer loves sugar
Sheila Munyanziza, is a counsellor who suffered from Hodgkin lymphoma that reoccurred a year after treatment. She urges people to avoid taking artificial sugar and eat only when they are hungry. “I take zero sugar in all my drinks because sugar is food for cancer. I do honey once a week but as a healthy treat. I eat more vegetables and fruits. I am very skeptical about heavy carbohydrates like posho and cassava because these add more sugars in the body. I mainly eat rice because it is lesser with carbohydrates.”
Dr Mugisha says all body cells use glucose- a type of simple sugar to produce energy. Metabolism of normal cells needs glucose but metabolism of cancer cells is about eight times greater than the metabolism of normal cells.
A diet high in sugar prevents the body from getting rid of dead cells which then grow at a rapid rate. It is not only about table sugar, but it also includes foods high in refined sugar such as sweetened drinks, soda, sweets and refined carbohydrates like pastries, cakes, white and even brown bread, mandazi, biscuits and other such foods.

Cancer hates oxygen
While normal cells primarily use oxygen to fuel metabolism (aerobic metabolism), we now know that cancer cells use anaerobic metabolism-they do not use oxygen and actually will not grow or survive in an oxygen rich environment.
We need oxygen in our bodies so anything that enhances our breathing and makes it deeper will increase oxygen supply to tissues.
Exercise increases the depth of our breath and ensures that the oxygen we breathe is well circulated to all tissues in the body. Aerobics which usually focus on the heart and breath enhancement will significantly reduce your risk for cancer as has been shown in many studies. Being overweight, snoring and stress block oxygen.

Cancer hates sunlight
Cancer cells thrive best in the absence of light. Cancer cell growth will significantly slow down if the cancer cells are exposed to light, especially sunlight. Certain types of light, particularly infrared light is thought to negatively impact growth of cancer cells. In fact, some cancer treatment protocols employ the use of exposure of the blood to higher levels of light. Exposure to sunlight is the best source of Vitamin D- an essential element for reducing inflammation.

Cancer loves acid
Our bodies work best in an alkaline environment at a pH of 7.4 but cancer prefers an acidic environment. Our bodies are naturally alkaline but stress, environmental toxins and foods or diets that promote acidity can shift your body into an acidic state.
When your become acidic, it creates a condition called acidosis which in the long-term causes inflammation, damages cells, makes red and white blood cells fail to function properly
This makes the environment in the body a breeding place for bacteria and viruses that cause cancer. Animal and milk products are the biggest acid donors.Achieve alkaline state from plant based foods.