Insulin and colon cancer linked
Colon cancer survivors whose diet is heavy in complex sugars and carbohydrate-rich foods are far more likely to have a recurrence of the disease than are patients who eat a better balance of foods, indicates a new study by researchers at Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The connection is especially strong in patients who are overweight or obese, the authors write. More than 1,000 patients with advanced (stage III) colon cancer participated in the study, one of the first to examine how diet can affect the chances that the disease will recur. The findings are being published online by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute and will appear later in the journal’s print edition. Although the results point to a potential hazard of a high-carbohydrate diet for colon cancer patients, the take-home message is not a conclusive “Eat less sugar,” said lead author Jeffrey Meyerhardt, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical...