I'm Shocked! Ultra-processed Foods Linked to Cancer

[mikethompson]

(With apologies to Jay)
BBC Article
it also says that people who eat UP foods generally are not that healthy overall, so the effects might be cumulative.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Processed foods like lunch meat have been known as a risk for years. It's just going to have to be my downfall, I love bologna.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

My grandfather swore that breads, pastas, and grains of any sort were not real foods, and that they were dangerous to eat. He never ate them at all. When my grandmother would make cornbread, beans, and collards, he would just mix the beans with the greens, skipping the bread. He died though... at 105, he was in perfect health when the car wreck happened.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Life without cornbread would be too much to bear.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Life without cornbread would be too much to bear.

Agreed. I'll read the article later when I have more time, but it seems to be like everything is bad for you.

 

[anantaandroscoggin]

"Better living through chemistry" turns out to be a cancer-filled lie.

 

[kola]

It's the lack of REAL food which is stripped of its nutrients and enzymes in the processing methods. Then factor in the toxic chemicals, preservatives,artifical coloring, dyes, etc which turn real food into non-food. There's your cancers. And no, I'm not going to post peer review medical studies backing up my claims. Although the research is easily available and valid, it's just my opinion.
Eat whatever you want. And believe whatever you want to believe.

 

[molach95]

I think the concluding paragraphs of the article where other academics commented on the shortcomings of the study make a lot of sense. It's all a bit too vague and generalised to give us more than a starting point.
I would agree however that too much nutrient-deficient, low fibre and high calorie food (junk food etc) can lead to malnutrition, obesity and other health problems that result from that, including cancer. The "ultra-processed foods" they describe are really just junk food i.e. factory made chicken nuggets, cheap white bread, sweets, stuff that clearly has little nutritional value other than energy, but it's too low in everything else to satiate people and actually addictive to boot.
My views on this are a bit unorthodox though, so I wouldn't put cured meats, sausage, bacon, smoked fish etc in the same category. Those actually do have some nutritional value in the form of protein and good fats, if made by more natural processes. The trade off is the nitrites, high salt and smoking process but I don't think most people would eat so much of those meats alone they'd actually have a negative effect.

 

[mikethompson]

In other news, eating healthy food is healthy

 

[molach95]

-Sorry, double post-

 

[molach95]

I try to bear the saying in mind "too much of anything will kill you". Yes, smoked fish is considered unhealthy by some nutritional bodies for its salt content and curing process, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives for me, particularly as I live in Northern Europe so I need to get Vitamin D from my food. I can't eat too much of it anyway because of the expense, same with good quality bacon. Again, I think bacon in moderation is good for you - especially when it goes a long way and flavours a whole dish of vegetables or soup.

 

[perdurabo]

When on a diet where natural foods are eaten, it's wise to each up to 20% of processed foods a week. It keeps letpin levels from falling, and keeps your body responsive to the leptin signal. This ensures optimal fat burning. Not saying that these proccessed foods don't cause cancer, or are terrible for you. There is a place for processed foods in ones diet.

 

[molach95]

I sometimes think it helps to understand why and how meat is "processed" and made less healthy. Sorry if this is wrong but this is what I've gathered. The usual targets of the anti-processed meat brigade are smoked and salt cured meats. In order to preserve meat without freezing or refrigeration, you need to protect it from bacteria and mold and anything that could make it go rotten. This can be achieved by putting it in an environment without air, so sealing it in fat (confit), storing it in vinegar or brine or by exposing it to heavy smoke. However this will not protect against botulism, a potentially fatal infection caused by a fungus that grows in food in warm, airless environments. You can protect the food from that through very heavy salting or salt and sugar curing, but the safest way is through saltpetre (nitrates) in combination with salting and smoking. The result is a fine smoked ham that will keep for months in a cold pantry, providing protein for a family over the winter, but would horrify a modern nutritionist. Pretty much all meat was heavily processed back then, otherwise you would need to eat it very quickly before it went bad.
Sorry for rambling but I sometimes think it's too easy for people to start suggesting cured meats be made more healthy, including removing the nitrates or sugar in the cure. I even watched a youtube video of people doing "natural bacon curing - just salt, no nitrates" but I'm not sure if that's a good idea. You'd need to eat a lot of home cured bacon to do yourself harm, but if it had the botulinum spores in it because it wasn't smoked properly or cured with saltpetre, you only need to eat it once for it to be potentially fatal.

 

[unadoptedlamp]

This is a classic example of "click bait". Both this thread and the article are guilty! But it does make for interesting reading, I guess.
However, buried at the end of the article is this gem: "This study is far from the definitive take on ultra-processed foods and cancer. It cannot say ultra-processed foods are a cause of cancer."
Well, that sort of blows the title out of the water and ends the conversation for now. More research is obviously needed, preferably by scientists who might have a little more insight.
Journalists need to make a living too, I guess. I do feel sorry for all of the people who take stuff like this at face value and go away with the leading message, which is highly misleading. It seems to be the era of misinformation.
However, I don't think it is unreasonable that one day, a link between some ingredients in "ultra processed foods" and cancer is found. Chemical interactions and combinations can do so many strange and interesting things and just because you can make something, it doesn't make it safe. The nutrient values, etc. seem like red herrings to me. I'd be more interested in exploring the link of something like Red-3924 and Butylated Hydroxyanisole. Who the hell knows what that does? Maybe it looks and tastes great or it causes nasty lumps on your liver. It will be interesting to see what research like this turns up in 10-15 years. My bet is that it's this generation's form of asbestos or lead paint, but it's only a small bet for now.
I personally avoid "ultra processed food" because I think it tastes like crap. But, that's only because I prefer to taste more than what normally amounts to just a lot of salt and fat, which I have a feeling usually results in bad health when overdone on the industrial scale (and it normally is). But some people can't get enough of it! Do what you like, but don't be surprised if it makes life uncomfortable.
Eat your fruits and veggies guys! You can be that 100 year old guy running marathons and retiring at the end of the race to a nice long pipe.

 

[coldsmoke]

Much ado about nothing.

 

[shanegreen]

Kola you are right 100 percent and I like your attitude. I have looked into a lot on the food subject concerning disease, plus all the other digestive issues, etc. I could talk volumes about it, but usually just keep my mouth shut unless someone wants to talk about something. Most people just don't care. I am going to refrain from saying to0 much so this doesn't turn into another forum stampede. Concerning cancer I have seen it combatted in ways outside of the norm successfully that had conventional doctors baffled.

 

[mahew]

Wait? Does this mean that “fast food” isn’t good for me? Should I stay away from potato chips and twinkies? Say it isn’t so!

 

[shanegreen]

Should is one thing. Could is another. I know not to, but crunchy cheesy things get me all the time, even if they turn my digestive tract into a wonka factory.

 

[madox07]

In Romania we are facing an epidemic ... cancer is at its peak ever since the condition has been discovered. Honestly, who knows what exactly, or what combination of stress, diet and other habits leads to this disease. Both my parents have been diagnosed, actually my mother went in for her 6 month checkup yesterday and gave us quite an emotional shock, as and idiotic oncologist misinterpreted her PET tomography test as cancer relapse. It's honestly a modern day plague ... I work in the FMCG industry and the hypocrisy of it all is that all major food processing companies act like nothing is wrong. One of the highest cancer related preservative and food enhancer is sodium monoglutamate (E621). If there is any deli stuff (among the only processed food that we deliberately buy in a grocery store) containing that stuff we just stay away from it. In some parts of the EU this is actually illegal. Another common preservative is sodium nitrate (E250) or potassium nitrate (E252), which debatable also produce cancer in the form of nitrozamines, effect that processors seek to reduce by infusing products with Vitamin C and E. Needless to say that this preservative is illegal in Norway, Sweden, Canada and some German States. In Romania you may find processed food without E621, but no product WITHOUT E250. So at the end of the day, living in an urban environment, what are we supposed to eat???? When I lived in the states I couldn't help notice that the FDA doesn't even have an encoding for preservatives and coloring agents, the manufacturers being allowed to simply write "contains preservatives" on labels.

 

[deathmetal]

One of the highest cancer related preservative and food enhancer is sodium monoglutamate (E621).

Good tip. I'll avoid that. What do you think of the link between cancer and low Vitamin D?
I am most concerned about exhaust, specifically diesel exhaust.