There’s been a lot of debate over whether regular consumption of processed – particularly ultra-processed – foods (UPFs) ups your risk of various cancers. A new study reveals there’s a direct link between UPFs and developing colorectal cancer…
A team of Harvard researchers has discovered an alarming corelation between the consumption of UPFs and development of colon cancer ‘precursors’.
What they did
The team data-mined reco0rds from more than 29,000 female nurses under the age of 50 who underwent a colonoscopy, and who also completed dietary surveys every four years. The team used other information from the surveys to estimate subjects’ average daily intake of ultra-processed foods.
What they found
They discovered that the top 20 percent of consumers of ultraprocessed foods had a, “statistically significant 45 percent higher odds of early-onset colorectal conventional adenomas compared with the lowest [ 20 percent].”
“Our findings support the importance of reducing the intake of ultra-processed foods as a strategy to mitigate the rising burden of early-onset colorectal cancer,” Andrew Chan, MD, MPH, Chief of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit and a Gastroenterologist in the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, and senior author of the study, said in a statement. “The increased risk seems to be fairly linear, meaning that the more ultra-processed foods you eat, the more potential that it could lead to colon polyps.”
The takeaway
Rarely have I seen a study report from which the takeaway was more obvious – and more ominous. You can encapsulate it in three words: “Don’t eat UPFs!”
My take
Perhaps this new finding will help settle the debate over whether UPFs can elevate your risk of cancer. And I think, perhaps, more such studies are called for targeting other forms of cancer…
~ Maggie J.