Too Much Dessert Increases Cancer Odds
By:
Jean Carper
Overeating cookies, cake, chocolate, ice cream, jam and other sweets may boost a woman's odds of breast cancer nearly 20%, finds a new Italian study.
The possible reason: Sugary foods and concentrated carbohydrates raise blood sugar, insulin and insulin-like growth factors (hormones thought to promote breast cancer). Insulin also stimulates production of estrogen that ups risk of breast cancer. High insulin is associated with pancreatic cancer, too.
The greatest breast cancer risk was for women who ate the most calories, says Italian research. Other recent research finds that being overweight or obese also hikes risk of cancers of the colon, prostate and pancreas.
Copyright 2005 Jean Carper. Printed first in USA Weekend. All rights reserved.
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