Refined sugars are strongly linked to cancer, not only as a cause of the disease but also as something that feeds the cancer cells once a person has it.  The kinds of sugar so prevalent in today's standard diet leads to cancer directly by causing inflammation throughout the body.  Once cancer cells are established in the body, they depend on steady glucose availability in the blood for their energy.  Simple carbohydrates include sugars found naturally in foods such as fruits and fruit juices, some vegetables, white bread, white rice, pasta, milk and milk products, etc.  They also encompass the simple sugars that are added to foods during processing and defining, and that we might have no awareness of.

Also, eating white sugar (or white, unrefined anything) causes magnesium deficiencies because the mineral has been removed in the processing.  Deficiencies in magnesium are not only inflammatory but also causes cancer.  High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) causes cancer in a unique way because much of it is contaminated with mercury due to the complex process by which it is made.  HFCS causes selenium deficiencies because the mercury in it binds with the mineral, driving selenium levels downward.  Selenium is crucial for glutathione production (a super good anti-oxidant necessary for cell repair).

Sugar causes cancer also in cases of chronic dehydration, a condition that is inflammatory and thus exacerbates any tendency of high-carbohydrate consumers to get cancer.  Additionally, pancreatic cancer cells use the sugar fructose to help tumors grow more quickly.  Bottom line here is to drink your water.  A rule of thumb would be to consume half your body weight (in ounces per day.)

Agave syrup is not an alternative to any sugar!  It is considered worse than high fructose corn syrup because it has a higher fructose content than any commercial sweetener, ranging from 70 to 97 percent depending on the brand.  HFCS, in comparison, averages 55 percent fructose.  Most agave "nector" or agave "syrup" is nothing more than a laboratory-generated, super-condensed fructose syrup, devoid of virtually all nutrient value.