Processed Foods are a Leading Cause of Cancer?

Processed foods can be very detrimental to your health. Yes, it is hard to stay away from these foods because they taste so good, but is it worth it if it could lead to getting cancer?

According to scientists, people that consume excess processed foods can lead to high risk of cancer. These kinds of food products contain additives, artificial flavors, and emulsifiers. Many foods are processed to some extent, but ultra-processed foods contain a lot of sugar-packed, sodium and calorie.

A recent study shows that people that eat processed food regularly are at high risks of becoming overweight and obese. They are also likely to suffer from heart, diabetes, and blood circulation problems. Eating processed meat such as hot dogs can lead to high risk of colorectal cancer.

Researchers discovered that about 10 percent increase in the quantity of ultra-processed foods in the diet is related to high risks of cancer and breast cancer.

The study also shows that ultra-processed sauces and fats, sugary drinks and products were related to an increased risk of cancer. Also, ultra-processed sugary products can lead to high risk of breast cancer.

Many people tend to consume ultra-processed food, smoke more and perform less exercise; all these can increase cancer risk.

According to a study co-author, Mathilde Touvier said, the adverse effect of the results is not surprising. They are actively related; we performed a lot of receptive analysis and altered the results for many co-factors. But the results are quite concerning.

According to an emeritus professor at King’s College London and a scientific governor of the British Nutrition Foundation, Tom Sanders said, what we eat is an appearance of our general lifestyle, and it may not be the linked with the risk of cancer. As a result of this, it is essential to avoid the co-founding factors.

Tom Sanders, which was not among the scientists that carried out the studies, said that the authors made demographic changes to allow some factors. He said that the approach of classifying dietary patterns depend on commercially processed food in association with disease risk. This is real but needs proper findings before it can be interpreted as the useful nutritional device.

There are cautions about deducing what is responsible for the high cancer risk related with ultra-processed food stated by Marji McCullough the director of nutritional epidemiology at American Cancer Center.

McCullough said that the study doesn’t mean that if people eat any food product, it might lead to cancer. The prevailing message of this study was to inform people to check their overall diet pattern instead of specific diet. The study also supports many things that we know already.

For instance, she said that people that eat highly processed foods are more likely to consume few healthy foods that can help to avoid cancer. Nutritionists inform people to eat food products that contain high amounts of fruits, vegetables, and grains. Rather than food products that have low nutritional value.

In a study carried out by Touvier, she said that many scientists are not aware of the precise cause of increased cancer risk. She promised that their team at the Statistics Research Center would try to investigate further to the problem. “The major problem now is to separate different food products and identify the relationship between what caused this effect. “

Touvier said that animal studies show that some additives are caused by carcinogenic. But it is not possible to notice if they are carcinogenic in the human population.”

Ultra-processed foods include a fast-growing aspect of the world’s diet. In 2016, a study shows that about 60 percent calories in an average America diet come from a different aspect of foods. In 2017, another research shows that calories make up more than 50 percent of the United Kingdom diet and makeup 50 percent of the Canadian diet. Many other developing countries have started to eat this way.

The authors recommend that a diversified and balanced diet must be considered as the most important priorities for public health. Touvier said “Eat foods that are rich in nutrients to reduce ultra-processed food products.