The wrong food not only weakens your body’s defenses against cancer but it also causes cancer cells to multiply rapidly. Your daily diet probably includes one or more of these foods and beverages.
16 high cancer risk foods
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GMO
Most scientific studies and lab tests show that there are some serious repercussions when we chemically change the composition of our food; GMO is known to damage the immune system and cause pre-cancerous cell growths.
Yet, GMO foods have been given the green light by the Canadian and US governments. This means that foods that have been genetically modified by chemicals do not need labels mentioning that they are GMO!
What you can do to avoid GMO is look for a ‘GMO free’ tag on your food label. Go Organic.
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White Sugar
Just like all other cells in your body, cancer cells divide and grow by feeding on sugar in the bloodstream. By controlling blood glucose you help starve the cancer.
It was way back in 1931, Nobel laureate in medicine, Otto Warburg, Ph.D., during his research first discovered that glucose literally fuels growth of cancer cells.
As if causing diabetes and obesity wasn’t bad enough; sugar feeds cancer!
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White Flour
The process of refining grains to make white flour kills all the good nutrients. To add to that, refined white flour quickly raises sugar and insulin levels in the bloodstream, this makes it a high glycaemic index food. This has a similar effect as white sugar; it stimulates cancer metabolism.
The bleaching of refined flour gives it its white colour; this process involves using chlorine gas, an unsafe chemical. Medium exposure to chlorine gas can result in cancer in the long term.
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Farmed Salmon
Farmed raised salmon poses many health risks. They are full of cancer promoting contaminants such as PCBs, dioxins, dieldrin, and toxaphene. Other than that, they are also fed chemicals to artificially give them their pink colour, which occurs naturally in wild salmon.
Farmed salmon are raised on processed feed which gives them a higher fat content, which otherwise would mean more of the wonderful omega-3, but in their case this also means their fats store more carcinogenic contaminants like PCBS and pesticides.
What you need to keep in mind while shopping for salmon is that ‘fresh’ on the label does not mean wild-caught. Best to buy it canned or ones that are labeled ‘wild.’
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Carbonated Drinks
It is a well known fact that soda pops are highly sugary; their consumption causes the pancreas to produce more insulin and puts the pancreas at risk of developing cancer.
Plus, the colourant used in these fizzy drinks , 4-methylimidazole, is a potential carcinogen.
A recent study warns that consuming two cans of these sugar laden drinks can increase risk of breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.
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Hydrogenated Oils
These oils are made from vegetables, which by themselves are not dangerous; it is the process of hydrogenation, post extraction, that makes them so unhealthy. Hydrogen and metal catalysts increase trans fats and mess around with our cell membranes, changing their structure.
Trans fats are deadly; in addition to the many other health problems that they are linked to they also increase risk of breast cancer and colon cancer.
Be careful as the ingredients on a food label may mention ‘no trans fats’ but if they may contain ‘hydrogenated oil’.
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Tinned Tomatoes
Bisphenol-A, or BPA is an industrial chemical that is used for producing epoxy resins. Exposure to BPA increases risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer. Food cans are coated with epoxy resins. This is the case with tomato cans too.
The acidity of the tomatoes enables bisphenol A (BPA) to leach out — basically, all canned food is bad but canned tomatoes are double the risk.
Use fresh and organic tomatoes, always!
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Processed Meats
Processed meat is a meat with additives. Ready-to-eat meats like bacon, pasteurised sausage, ham, salami, chorizo, sausages, pepperoni are all examples of processed meat. This meat is not fresh.
As per their findings, “eating 50 grams of processed meat every day increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%. That’s the equivalent of about 4 strips of bacon or 1 hot dog. ”
Don’t eat manufactured meat!
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Potato Chips
Potato chips, world’s favourite packaged snack is totally evil! Munching on them is not healthy because of the trans-fats, high sodium content and other preservatives.
Then there’s the cancer risk… A chemical called Acrylamide is found in foods that are heated at temperatures above 120 degrees Celsius (248 degrees Fahrenheit). Potato chips, due to how they are prepared, contain higher levels of acrylamide than other foods. Acrylamide is a carcinogen that poses a risk for several types of cancer.
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Microwave Popcorn
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a chemical used for making Teflon. This toxin is found microwave popcorn bags as well. Research has found that exposure to PFOA increases risks of bladder and kidney cancers.
Also, synthetic flavours and GMO ingredients used to make this popcorn. All and all this is not a safe snack. Use organic kernels in a brown paper bag instead.
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Alcohol
All alcohols, whatever type, are bad for you. The more alcohol you drink, the higher the cancer risk.
Alcohol contains substantial amount of the psychoactive drug ethanol, which, on consumption, is converted into a toxic chemical called acetaldehyde. It damages your DNA and causes cancer. Acetaldehyde, has been classified by The International Agency for Research on Cancer as being a cause of cancer.
The cancers commonly affected by alcohol are of mouth, throat, oesophageal (foodpipe), breast and bowel cancers.
Whether you binge drink on weekends or have a big glass of wine at the end of the day, the risk the same!
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Red Meat
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) found that red meat increases risk of colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancer.
How you cook you red meat also affects it carcinogenicity; high-temperature cooking methods generate compounds that pose a higher cancer risk.
However, eating meat has known health benefits too so eat it occasionally. Just monitor your consumption and don’t eat processed meat.
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Non-Organic Fruits
Non-Organic fruits increase your exposure to harmful chemicals. This is obvious considering that they are heavily contaminated by pesticides and insecticides, which are absorbed into the fruits.
Pesticides such as atrazine, thiodicarb, and organophosphates are highly dangerous, so much so that atrazine has been banned in Europe. But it continues to be used here.
These chemical are as toxic for humans as they are for insects and pests. Washing fruits does not rid them entirely of the residue so EAT ONLY ORGANIC FRUITS!!
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Diet Food.
Surprised? Well, at end of the day, diet food is also packaged food. Which means that it is loaded with chemicals, preservatives, sodium, artificial colours to enhance the taste and increase product shelf life.
Plus, most of these foods contain the controversial artificial sweetener, aspartame, which is a known carcinogen.
Eat fresh and organic foods.
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Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners are sugar substitutes; they’re often used to lose weight, control calories, and by diabetics. Aspartame, is an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener that can potentially cause brain tumors.
Even if you do not use artificial sweeteners you might land up consuming them as they are also used for sweetening foods and beverages, all those food products marked as “sugar-free” or “diet”. So as mentioned before— avoid diet food!
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Packaged and smoked food
These foods are laden with preservatives; they are preserved by using nitrites or nitrates. Though these nitrites and nitrates are not cancer-causing by themselves, the body, under some conditions, changes them into by-products nitrosamines and nitrosamides, also known as N-nitroso compounds. N-nitroso compounds are associated with an increased risk of cancer.
Smoking, as you probably already know, is the process of cooking and adding flavour to food by exposing it to smoke from a burning material, most often wood. Smoked meat absorbs large amounts of tar from the wood. This tar is similar to cigarette tar; it contains cancer-causing compounds.
Stop feeding on all of these cancer promoters!
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