Gorging on junk food really DOES increase your risk of cancer – five different types
REGULARLY eating junk food can increase your risk of developing cancer, a new study has found.
We know that a diet packed with sugary, fatty foods and a lack of exercise can make us more prone to developing a host of life-shortening illnesses, but this is thought to be the first large study to focus on the link between the nutritional content of our food and cancer.
The new study, conducted by Mélanie Deschasaux, at the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Paris, looked at data collected from 471,495 people from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.
Volunteers provided information about their diets, as well as relevant medical history - including cancer history.
Over the study's 15.3 years period, 49,794 volunteers had been diagnosed with cancer: 12,063 had breast cancer, 6,745 had prostate cancer and 5,806 had colorectal cancer.
And based on the info provided, scientists concluded that those who "[consumed] on average food products with a lower nutritional quality, were at higher risk of developing cancer overall".
More specifically, those who regularly ate foods with low nutritional quality had an increased risk of colorectal and stomach cancers.
Men were at greater risk from while women were more prone to developing liver cancer and postmenopausal breast cancer.
The British Foods Standards Agency has already developed a "traffic light" nutrient profiling system which helps shoppers to see how much fat, salt and sugar is in their food - as well as the nutritional information table often on the back of products.
But many other countries are yet to adopt similar schemes.
MORE ON DIET
The set of worrying findings linking increased risk of cancer with the consumption of low-value foods now may offer enough evidence for policy-makers to push for more widespread publishing of nutrient profiling on food labelling.
The takeaway?
Try to limit the amount of junk and low-value foods (refined breads and sugars, cakes and biscuits, fizzy drinks, takeaways etc) and up the number of fibrous foods (fruit and veg, wholegrain carbs), good fats (houmous, olive oil, avocado) and lean proteins (chicken, oily fish, tofu) you consume.
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