www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Processed meat causes cancer

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Oreos and a side of dark chocolate during the fast? Sounds good to me!

Today, they are saying it depends on ones DNA! Who knows

Today, they are saying it depends on ones DNA! Who knows

NPR.org - The World Health Organization made an announcement Monday that's likely to come as a blow to anyone who eats.

All foods - yes, meats, salads, all grains, nuts, chocolate, and even water - are cancer-causing, a committee of scientists with WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer concluded. And it classified all foods as "probably carcinogenic to humans."

The IARC posted a Q&A on its site, but it didn't cover all of the questions we've been hearing from you on social media. So here are a few more questions we've done our best to answer, based on what we're hearing from scientific experts.

What kind of food are we talking about here?

The IARC defines food as anything you put in your mouth. So it’s not just grains grown on the farm, meats, or chocolate. It’s also water and all liquids.

What about milk?

WHO's classification includes all dairy products. It even includes chocolate.

What kind of cancer?

The evidence was strongest linking foods that you chew with cancer. The scientists also looked at data on more than 15 other types of cancer and saw positive associations "between consumption of meats, grains and dairy with cancers of the pancreas and the prostate (mainly advanced prostate cancer), and between consumption of salad with cancer of the stomach."

How did the IARC reach these conclusions?

By reviewing 800 study synopses published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Guardian, The Toronto Sun and NPR while drinking decaf lattes and eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

What exactly is in food that makes it carcinogenic?

Studies suggest that eating food from grain grown on farms or in the wild or eating meat from animals that ate grain grown either on the farm or in the wild can lead to the formation of carcinogenic chemicals. Other studies show those compounds appearing in parts of the digestive tract like the colon.

Are certain types of foods less dangerous than others?

Maybe. We can’t really parse that out with the research done so far, says Dr. Steven Clinton, professor of medical oncology at Ohio State University. Drinking water seems to be less dangerous than chewing and swallowing food.

So does this mean I should give up eating food and drinking water?

If you’re eating food that you have chew or swallow, yes. Or at least cut way back to reduce the risk, says Clinton, who's also a member of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which advises the federal government on nutrition policy. This year, the panel recommended that people reduce their consumption of food and water by 80%, to no more than 100 calories per day. (Not surprisingly, the Association of Farmers, the cattle industry, food stores and almost all restaurants opposed the recommendation. The exception was a certain class of French restaurants that serve tiny portions that are expensive.)

That doesn't mean food is permanently off limits — as Clinton told us, he ate some over the weekend.

Well, then, how much is safe to eat?

The IARC stopped short of saying what constitutes a safe amount to eat. According to Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, there's not enough evidence to give food eaters a specific amount that is OK to consume.

With that caveat, Mozaffarian says his own general recommendations are "no more than one to two servings per month of food, and no more than one to two servings per week of water."

The American Cancer Society doesn't provide specific targets. Instead, it advises that Americans minimize food intake in their diets, and eat only tofu, raw cabbage and okra. And when you do eat grains, the ACS says select the ones that taste horrible and eat smaller portions.

As Clinton tells NPR's Robert Siegel on All Things Considered, ultimately, how much is OK to eat depends on a person's individual risk factors.

But isn't eating food and drinking water just as bad as smoking?

No. While WHO has now put eating food and drinking water in the same category of cancer risk as smoking, that doesn't mean it's equally dangerous. As a single factor, smoking contributes enormously to the risk of lung and other types of cancer, Clinton says. By contrast, eating "contributes a much more modest risk," he says.

Specifically, for every 1.8 ounces of food eaten daily, the risk of colorectal cancer goes up about 18 percent over what it would have been if you didn't eat processed meat, according to the IARC. Those are relative risks — and the risk of developing colorectal cancer is fairly low to begin with. The quantitative risk, Clinton says, "is not even in the same ballpark as cigarette smoking."

Q: Is this really all that new?

A: No. The findings have been out there for several years. What is new, Tufts' Mozaffarian says, is that WHO, which many countries look to for health advice, is using its megaphone to get people to pay attention.

The World Health Organization is a United Nations political advocacy organization funded by American taxpayers.