
Is everything we eat associated with cancer? A systematic cookbook review - sridca
https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/97/1/127/4576988
======
jdietrich
See also _Kill or Cure_ , a comprehensive index of every Daily Mail article
claiming that something causes or prevents cancer.

[https://kill-or-cure.herokuapp.com/](https://kill-or-cure.herokuapp.com/)

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jakear
Looks like it does subject/verb plurality agreement based on the presence of
an 's' at the end of the subject. Thus: "Asbestos prevent cancer". Heh.
Software.

~~~
userbinator
I looked at the site again to see that it actually says "asbestos _cause_
cancer", because I was really curious how it could ever prevent cancer...

No mention of Cheetos or Doritos though.

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bencollier49
Wow, that was quite a read. What does seem to stand out is the danger of
negative results not being published. 99 studies look at an ingredient, find
nothing, don't publish. Through pure chance, the hundredth study finds a
correlation, and everyone is immediately convinced that yet another ingredient
is unhealthy.

~~~
eternauta3k
The study will fail to replicate.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Doesn't matter; before anyone even thinks of replicating it, it's already all
over the fitness & lifestyle magazines and news columns regular people read.

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open-source-ux
Cancer Research UK (a medical charity) has a good summary of some common food
controversies - foods that are claimed to either cause or curtail cancer.

The entry on 'super foods' states:

> "...the term ‘superfood’ is really just a marketing tool, with little
> scientific basis. It’s certainly true that a healthy, balanced and varied
> diet can help to reduce the risk of cancer but it is unlikely that any
> single food will make a major difference on its own."

[https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-
canc...](https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/diet-
and-cancer/food-controversies)

Also worth a read:

 _Bacon, salami and sausages: how does processed meat cause cancer and how
much matters?_ (April 2019)

[https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2019/04/26/bacon-
sa...](https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2019/04/26/bacon-salami-and-
sausages-how-does-processed-meat-cause-cancer-and-how-much-matters/)

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aszantu
You can basically dump all mouse studies, since the standard kibble was
something high sugary/starchy. Add fat -> cancer; add more sugar -> cancer...;
add more protein -> cancer Epidemiological stuff is flawed as well. Unless the
people are kept in a closed ward and every meal is kept under close
observation, it's probably not "clean" data.

There is hope though... annecdotal evidence seems to point towards unprocessed
food as a good tool to fight cancer. Even better when it's low carb.

[http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/meat-and-
cancer/](http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/meat-and-cancer/) source for the mouse
model studies

[http://meatheals.com/category/cancer/](http://meatheals.com/category/cancer/)
anecdotal evidence, you'll prolly find some vegans as well if you go looking.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tteYZfMat4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tteYZfMat4)
some interesting talk about the efficiency of treatment in some cancers. Might
help to make a better informed decision if it ever hits you.

~~~
sridca
I'm surprised to see your comment in good health. Everytime I link to Georgia
Ede or meatheals I get downvoted to oblivion lol, just as this comment too
will (as if there is a vegan bot on HN targeting my comments?).

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aszantu
don't go down the path of conspiracy theory xD that's unhealthy, but I don't
care much about upvotes here

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sridca
Ask the mods. They have flagged my account so that new comments in some
threads begin with 0 points.

Agree on the upvotes thing; it is a health sign of skepticism.

~~~
dang
HN software has no such flagging mechanism.

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INTPenis
I think we as humans are just associated with cancer. Regardless of what we
eat.

My soul mate exercised, ate well and natural but still got breast cancer.
Because it was in her family. Cancer hits so many people that it seems like
it's just a natural way of population control to me.

Or perhaps a side effect from being multi-celled creatures in a universe with
background radiation.

~~~
vmurthy
Sorry to hear about your partner :-( The first part of the last paragraph
makes sense. Multi-cellular -> more cells dividing -> more chances of
mutations -> more chances of cancer. The second half of your last para implies
that cosmic radiation / something similar causes cancer. I’m genuinely curious
: is there some link between cosmic microwave radiation and cancer ? Any
sources ?

~~~
smueller1234
There's no known link between cosmic microwave background and cancer. Would do
for one hell of a difficult thing to study, too.

There's perfectly ample evidence for cosmic rays (ie. high energy radiation
from astronomical sources) increasing risk of cancer as does any ionizing
radiation. Maybe GP conflated the two?

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m3kw9
Everything we do on a daily bases has a chance to increase or decrease the
chances of each part of our body of getting it. Even if you do nothing

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boringusername
This is the inevitable result of clueless reporting on bad epidemiological
studies.

Look at any study behind one of these headlines and there will be a raft of
confounding factors that were never controlled for. The data is close to
meaningless at a certain point.

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agumonkey
A subtle way to suggest fasting ?

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contravariant
If you stop eating for a few weeks it probably does lower your chances of
getting cancer significantly.

~~~
agumonkey
that's what I meant, since it seems all types of food are linked to cancer,
fasting is the best of them

~~~
copperx
I remember reading a few studies where malnourished individuals and with
certain nutritional deficiencies had lower cancer incidence. There could be
some truth to it. Time to dig into PubMed.

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purplezooey
I heard coffee is still good

~~~
anthonybullard
Tell that to the state of California

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rrwright
From the abstract:

“Statistically significant results were more likely than nonsignificant
findings to be published in the study abstract than in only the full text (P <
0.0001).“

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newnewpdro
It's probabilistic, the best you can do is minimize your chances but
_everything_ causes harm to some degree until you're dead.

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nradov
If you live long enough you will eventually die of cancer. It's inevitable.

~~~
k__
Do the oldest people predominantly die of cancer?

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weberc2
The parent’s comment is tautologically true: if nothing kills you first,
cancer will eventually kill you.

~~~
gnulinux
That is, given that humans eventually die.

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pdimitar
At this point I almost expect an article titled "All oxygen-breathing
organisms are a fatally flawed design and are doomed to never live healthy no
matter what".

:(

~~~
stcredzero
[https://lowres.cartooncollections.com/doctors-medical-
parano...](https://lowres.cartooncollections.com/doctors-medical-paranoia-
hypochondria-hypochondriacs-medical-CC41339_low.jpg)

The SENS people say, if you live long enough, you will eventually have cancer.

~~~
justinator
I was under the impression that everyone has cancer all the time at about the
same rate the body can fight it before it becomes an actual, detectable
problem.

~~~
whenchamenia
Yup. So shoukd we should worry about our ability to fight it, rather than what
'causes' it, outside agressive carcenogens?

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781
There are scientists who argue that what the mitochondria does is
fundamentally cancerigenic on a long enough timeline, so in a sense, yes,
everything we eat is associated with cancer.

[https://www.nature.com/articles/cr2017155](https://www.nature.com/articles/cr2017155)

~~~
toufka
Metabolism is a process with chemical and energetic exhaust that can damage
machinery critical to cellular processes. And at some point it becomes
evolutionarily favorable to just accept that damage and expend effort starting
over again (offspring) as opposed to attempting complete repair of all the
damaged systems.

In that way, all metabolic processes will logically lead to cancer (damage to
dna). The world is on fire.

~~~
jacquesc
Seems that nature favors the 'big rewrite'

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sridca
Related - meat & cancer:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20029519](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20029519)

(Ctrl+F "cancer" in that thread for amusement)

