Eating Processed Food Leads to Cancer

A new extensive study conducted by Paris and San Paulo and published in British Medical Journal suggests that the increasing rate of consumption of ultra-processed foods such as sugary drinks, soda, ham, pizza, instant noodles, packaged snacks and some food with fried meats may be linked to proportional rise in cancer.

Therefore eating factory made processed food such as cornflakes, pizza and chocolate bars every day increases the risk of cancer by one fourth, according to the study, which is first of its kind. The additives in ready meals, packaged snacks and shop bought cakes may combine to trigger the disease further, the researchers warn. Those in the top quarter obtained a third of their calories from such products, roughly equivalent to a man consuming a chocolate bar, a can of cola, a bowl of cornflakes and a quarter of a pizza daily.

In their reports the scientists  from Paris and Sao Paulo who are involved in the research however has cautioned that the finding came from an observational study and that more research should now be done to confirm it. As observational studies are not designed to prove cause and effect but they can offer insights into links between variables such as diet and disease.

In the study that was recently published in The British Medical Journal (BMJ), the researchers of Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Sao Paulo analyzed the diet and health of around 105,000 middle-aged French individuals with an average age of 45 years measuring their intake of 3,300 different food items. After eight years it was found that out of this 105,000 people, 2,228 developed cancer.  The participants gave information to the researchers about their typical intake of thousands of different food items, which found that every 10 per cent increase in consumption of ready meals, sugary cereals and salty snacks is linked to a 12 per cent rise in cancer risks.

During the research the team of scientists also tried to find out or evaluate the potential associations between ultra-processed food intake and risk of overall cancer, which include the cancer of breast, prostate, and bowel (colorectal) cancers.

In the study they found that for every 10 percent rise in the proportion of ultra-processed foods consumed, there was a 12 percent higher risk of cancer. Of which more analysis found 11 percent increase in the risk of having breast cancer but no significant link with the increase risk of prostate or colorectal cancer.

The World Health Organisation has classed processed meats such as bacon and ham as carcinogenic but the new study looked more widely at industrialized ultra-processed foods such as factory-made bread, packaged confectionery, nuggets, burgers, breakfast cereals, instant soups and fizzy drinks. This includes ham and sausages when made with preservatives and additives other than just salt.

A few earlier studies have linked ultra-processed foods to higher risks of obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol levels. But a firm evidence linking to the intake of processed food to the risk of cancer was not proved yet.

The latest estimates of the worldwide figures suggest that there were 14.1 million new cases of cancer in the year 2012 and that this number is expected to increase by another 24 million by 2035.

In the United States where cancer is the second most common cause of death, the American Cancer Society (ACS) estimate that there will be around 1.7 million newly diagnosed cases of cancer and more than 609,000 deaths due to the disease, in 2018.

It is therefore we can say the study is also a warning to our rapidly increasing production and consumption of heavily processed foods in the recent years, which could drive an increasing burden of cancer in coming decades. Scientists also have urged the consumers to try to eat more fresh or minimally processed foods as a precaution.

Amidst all these, still there is a hope of healthy life for everyone of us, if we are able to change our lifestyle or made some adjustment with our daily routine by having fresh or minimally processed foods, including fresh fruit, vegetables, rice, pasta, meat and milk, which are associated with lower risks and some daily workout, we can stop Cancer from attacking us by following this.