These foods can cause cancer

Dr Zuze Health Matters
We all tremble at the thought of cancer and in recent times there seems to be an upsurge in the number of cases. It is estimated that up to half the total cancer deaths are related to preventable causes. Now, one of the greatest exposures to cancer is the food we eat and you have been eating cancer-causing foods all this time without even knowing it. Here are some of the common things you should avoid.

Fizzy drinks: A study found that people who drank more than one fizzy drink per day have a higher risk of stroke than those who don’t. Fizzy drinks are loaded with sugar and cause weight gain and obesity. Drinking large amounts of this rapidly digested sugar causes your blood sugar to spike which can lead to insulin resistance. Fizzys are often the root cause of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, which is when the contents of the stomach leak into the oesophagus causing not only pain but an actual burning of the oesophagus from stomach acid. Fizzys also contain artificial colourings and food chemicals which can cause cancer.

Canned tomatoes: Actually, most canned foods are a concern because of what the can is lined with. The lining of almost all canned foods are made with a chemical called bisphenol-A, or BPA, which has long been suspected to cause cancer.

Tomatoes are exceptionally dangerous due to their high acidity, which seems to cause BPA to leech from the lining of the can into the tomatoes themselves.

Processed meats: These include sausages, hot dogs, bacon, and lunch meats like polony and ham. The excessive salts and chemicals that are used when making processed meats are damaging to your health. All these processed meats contain numerous chemicals and preservatives, including sodium nitrates, which make them look appealing and fresh but are well known cancer causers. Smoked meats seem to be particularly bad as the meat picks up tar from the smoking process. Tar is the same deadly ingredient that cigarette smoke contains.

Potato chips: While potato chips are cheap, great tasting and a quick snack, the negative effects they have on your body may not be worth the little bit of pleasure you derive from them. Potato chips are high in both fat and calories, which are sure to bring on weight gain. Besides being full of trans-fats which can cause high cholesterol in most people, they have excessive sodium levels which, for many people, cause high blood pressure.

Potato chips have artificial flavours, numerous preservatives, and colours as well, which is something else your body doesn’t need. Potato chips are fried in high temperatures to make them crispy but this also causes them to make a material called acrylamide, a known cause of cancer that is also found in cigarettes.

Hydrogenated oils: All hydrogenated oils are vegetable oils. Vegetable oils cannot be extracted naturally like butter is, vegetable oils must be chemically removed from their source, and then they are changed to be more acceptable to consumers. They are frequently deodorised and coloured to look appealing.

All vegetable oils contain high levels of Omega–6 fatty acids. An excess of Omega-6 fatty acids causes health problems, such as heart disease and an increase in various cancers, especially skin cancer. Hydrogenated oils are used to preserve processed foods and keep them looking appealing for as long as possible.

Salted, pickled and smoked foods: Smoking foods such as meat or nuts causes these food items to absorb considerable amounts of the tar that smoke produces. Tar is a known cancer causer. Meats such as bacon, sausage, polony, and salami are high in fat and salt. Pickled foods are also very high in salts. There is overwhelming evidence that eating these types of foods greatly increases the risk of colorectal cancer and higher rates of stomach cancer.

Highly processed white flours: You might know by now that white flour is not a good thing, but you most likely have no idea just how bad it really is for your health. Refining grains destroys their natural nutrients. White flour lurks in many processed foods. White processed flour has a very high glycaemic rate which quickly raises the blood sugar level and insulin levels, which can be a direct cause of diabetes, not to mention it is believed that it spreads cancer cells by feeding the cells directly.

Artificial sweeteners: Most people use artificial sweeteners to either lose weight or because they are diabetic and must avoid sugar. The main problem in all this is that there are numerous studies that show people who consume artificial sweeteners on a regular basis actually gain weight.

It also does little or nothing to help those with diabetes. In fact, artificial sweeteners actually make it even more difficult to control their blood sugar levels and worsen conditions that are related to diabetes such as cataracts and gastro paresis. Not to mention that artificial sweeteners inhibit your body’s ability to monitor its daily calorie consumption and make the body crave even more sweets. There is some evidence that the chemicals that make up these sweeteners, especially aspartame, break down in the body into a deadly toxin called DKP. When your stomach processes this chemical, it in turn produces chemicals that can cause cancer, especially brain tumours.

Alcohol: Alcohol use is the second leading cause of cancer, right behind tobacco use. While a moderate or low consumption of alcohol can be healthy and lead to a reduced risk of heart disease, excessive drinking is known to cause heart failure, stroke, and sudden death. Studies have found sufficient evidence to state that excessive alcohol use is the main cause of mouth, oesophagus, liver, colon and mouth cancers.

Red meat: Evidence shows that red meat is actually a good thing in your diet, in small, infrequent amounts that is. Grass-fed beef contains conjugated linoleic acid that actually fights against certain cancers. A research study has shown that eating a lot of red meat increased the risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancer. Red meat seems particularly dangerous when talking about colon cancer. On the other hand, the long-term consumption of fish and poultry appeared to be protective in nature. There is a lot of controversy around most of these foods, however, and whatever you are going to eat, moderation may be the answer.