Does Sugar Feed Prostate Cancer? Does Fatty/Adipose Tissue Attract Cancer? | Mark Moyad, MD, MPH

Mark Moyad, MD, MPH, explains that prostate cancers, unlike many other cancers, tend to feed on amino acids and fats rather than sugar. However, he goes on to explain that it is impossible to reduce what a tumor needs to grow to any one element of a person's diet and clarifies that improving one's health, in general, through diet and exercise may inhibit the risk of developing prostate cancer and the growth of prostate cancer.

0:10 There had been an understandable urge to discover one element in diet and nutrition, the cessation of which would inhibit the growth of cancer and destroy it. With most cancers, sugars have been used to find cancers in imaging studies, and so the oversimplified conclusion has been that "sugar feeds prostate cancer" and that by stopping sugar intake one can kill the cancer.

1:06 In prostate cancer researchers have found that using sugars for imaging studies is useless. They use amino acids (proteins) and fats instead. However, it is also not as simple as saying "proteins and fats feed prostate cancer" and by stopping their intake one can kill prostate cancer.

2:15 Going back to the example of sugar, when considering the growth of cancer it is more relevant to consider an individual's blood sugar levels than it is to consider the consumption of sugar. Having high blood sugar causes the body to produce hormones that feed cancer in a much more significant way than having the occasional doughnut, for example.

3:50 Researchers are beginning to believe that adipose tissue (fat tissue) plays a role in increasing the aggressiveness of prostate cancer by releasing certain hormones, cytokines, and growth factors.

5:10 This is all especially important to consider since weight gain is a common side effect of androgen deprivation therapy. Special emphasis needs to be placed on maintaining a healthy weight.

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  Prostate Cancer