High CArb Diets Increase Esophageal Cancer Risk

Many oncology researchers ( cancer scientists ) think that carbohydrate-heavy diets might trigger some types of cancer because they increase blood insulin and insulin like growth factor levels – powerful anabolic hormones that promote cancer cell growth. Researchers from case western Reserve in Cleveland, in a study using the national Nutrient Data Bank, found that people who ate high-carbohydrate diets had a higher risk of gastroesophageal reflux disease ( GERD ) and esophageal cancere. They studied changing dietary patterns between 1973 and 2001. Carbohydrate intake increased by 25 percent, while esophageal cancers rose from 2500 cases per year to nearly 50000. The researchers stressed that people shouldn’t avoid carbohydrates in the diet. But, The steady increase in carbohydrate in take during the last 25 years might have contributed to the current obesity epidemic in America.( Paper presented at American College Gastroenterology, Abstract 22, Oct.2006 )