Hi, my husband has stage 4 cancer of the oesophagus with mets to liver, we are trying the sugar free as we think it makes sense and what have you got to lose!  Hopefully you only gain...  Before he was diagnosed he was already low carb which made the tranition easier, we have cut out most carbs and sugar altogether, still having some fruit.  There is a book I would reccommend called "the cancer fighting diet' by Dr. Johannes F. Coy and Maren Franz. He is a biologist and cancer researcher and it is very scientific and backed up with research, unlike some of the other weird and wonderful diets people will reccommend to you! He reccommends only 1g per kilo of body weight in carbs a day, so my husband is about 80kilos and can have 80g a day of carbs.  There is a guide to how to measure it, but you can look on the back of most food packs, trickier with veges but he has a food guide in there - 'green light foods' eat all you want, 'yellow light foods' eat a little, and 'red light foods' avoid. I can send you more about these if you want to get started... We were concerned he would lose too much weight but  hasn't happened luckily, during chemo he drops to around 76 kilos but makes it up again when eating again.  He eats loads of good fats though, olive oil, oily fish like salmon, sardines, coconut cream etc. Let me know if you want more info, I can private message you a whole lot more!

Hi Tonid

I read a cruk paper on the subject. It seems its not sugar per se but energy greed in tumours. So even if you ate no sugar your body would convert I;E pasta carbs into energy. So it seems theres nothing we can do to prevent that as we have to eat.

I think it is so important to maintain body weight during treatment also so many foods end up off the menu due to various things like swallow difficulties and loss of taste.

I know sweet foods were about all my husband could tolerate at one time.

The reason I got curious after reading about the sugar connection was I found my husbands craving for sweets like chocolate etc pre diagnosis. After his treatment he never ate biscuits or sweets,then years later his sweet craving was back so was the cancer.

The strange thing is I do not have a sweet tooth but since having cancer I do. My fridge is stocked up with chocolate which is not something I would normally eat.In fact my family stopped buying me chocolates at birthdays and mothers day because they never got eaten.

It will be interesting to read others input on the subject. xx

Hi Clara never thought about it before, before my C i never ate sweets or anything sugery non in drink either now i love sweets especially sugery ones, I'm non curable so I'm living with C and I'm struggling to keep weight down but it's so tempting Mrs keeps on at me about sweets, i know myself it's not good for me,, best wishes.

Billy 

Clara is quite correct about this CRUk research. Tumours will convert energy from other foods if it is denied sugar so a sugar free diet is of no help. If we thought about it logically, if cutting out sugar completely in our diet denied tumours food they would die - and that would cure cancer - it's not that simple I'm afraid. Eating healthy foods, plenty of fruit & veg, only a little sugar or fat and plenty of water for hydration.is the best advice from nutritionists.

Angie

Hi

Interesting what you and Clara56 say about the sweet craving.  Is there any research on it?  My husband does not have a sweet craving but then he has cancer of the oesephagus so food it a bit of a battle for him.  Mind you Crunchies go down very well.  

Thinking about it, of course its not just sugar, that would be just too simple.  Unfortunately, fruit and veg are not on the menu for my hubby, he just can't eat them. White meat and fish are also no, no for him.  Its really difficult as we have spent the last 3 years eating a totally healthy diet due to his heart by pass and heart failure (and me on slimming world)  Shopping is a whole new experience now, ice cream, double cream, milk powder, full fat milk, my brain is screaming NO!!.  

I will have to take some time to sit down and work out a food plan that keeps on the weight but does not kill his (replacement) arteries). 

Hi

Would be really interested to hear more.  My husband also has cancer of the oesophagus. 

Hi, Yes its true that your body converts carbs into glucose, that's why to 'starve' the cancer you need to avoid carbs too, only 1g per kilo of body weight a day, which is not alot, but your cells do need some.  So you wouldn't be able to eat pasta, potatoes or rice!  Quinoa is a good option to have a little of, even veges and almost all fruit have carbs so they have to be measured!  Not easy, but we have found it fine once we got used to it.  The other thing about sugar is it is immflammotory and really bad for your immune system, and of course when fighting cancer you want your immune system in tip top order!  I have noticed a huge difference in my own health since doing it, I have autoimmune disease (fibromalgia, sjogrens syndrome, and polymyositis), and since cutting out the sugar and carbs I have had virtually no pain, unless I sneak them again and it all starts back up....  Not easy to do this diet though unless he is going to be on board with it, my husband is pretty good but even he gets a bit sneaky at times.  But it has to be sustainable... They say if you want to eat something higher carb do it with some high level exercise so your body uses it up before it has a chance to convert..You can use stevia as a natural sweetener, it has no carbs.  Even if you can get him to just cut down on sugar intake it will help his immune system... if you can convince him!