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carbs and cancer....

I've previously pointed out some of the research stating that cancer can be treated with a ketogenic diet, starving the cancer cells of the glucose that they need to survive.

Here is a new and related study.

Carbohydrate intake, glycemic index, glycemic load, and risk of postmenopausal breast cancer in a prospective study of French women

Background: Diets high in carbohydrates may result in chronically elevated insulin concentrations and may affect breast cancer risk by stimulation of insulin receptors or through insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I)–mediated mitogenesis. Insulin response to carbohydrate intake is increased in insulin-resistant states such as obesity.

Objective: We sought to evaluate carbohydrate intake, glycemic index (GI), and glycemic load (GL) and subsequent overall and hormone-receptor-defined breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women.

Design: A prospective cohort analysis of dietary carbohydrate and fiber intakes was conducted among 62 739 postmenopausal women from the E3N French study who had completed a validated dietary history questionnaire in 1993. During a 9-y period, 1812 cases of pathology-confirmed breast cancer were documented through follow-up questionnaires. Nutrients were categorized into quartiles and energy-adjusted with the regression-residual method. Cox model–derived relative risks (RRs) were adjusted for known determinants in breast cancer.

Results: Dietary carbohydrate and fiber intakes were not associated with overall breast cancer risk. Among overweight women, we observed an association between GI and breast cancer (RRQ1–Q4: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.82; P for trend = 0.04). For women in the highest category of waist circumference, the RRQ1–Q4 was 1.28 (95% CI: 0.98, 1.67; P for trend = 0.10) for carbohydrates, 1.35 (95% CI: 1.04, 1.75; P for trend = 0.01) for GI, and 1.37 (95% CI: 1.05, 1.77; P for trend = 0.003) for GL. We also observed a direct association between carbohydrate intake, GL, and estrogen receptor–negative breast cancer risk.

Conclusions: Rapidly absorbed carbohydrates are associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk among overweight women and women with large waist circumference. Carbohydrate intake may also be associated with estrogen receptor–negative breast cancer.
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