15/02/2018
Please read Helen West post on today’s breaking news
https://www.facebook.com/therootedproject/posts/2054159147942767
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS LINKED TO CANCER
🗞 There were some dramatic headlines in the news this morning - this time linking “ultra-processed foods” to cancer risk....
SO WHAT IS ULTRA PROCESSED FOOD?
🔪The term ‘ultra processed’ comes from a food classification system used in scientific research called the NOVA classification....
🔍 This system ranks foods into 4 categories: 1) minimally or unprocessed, 2) processed ingredients, 3) processed foods and 4) ultra-processed foods....
WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS WITH CATEGORISING FOOD IN THIS WAY?
🍔 The NOVA system has been designed to attempt to separate out the health effects of what some people would call ‘whole foods’ vs commercially manufactured foods....
🤔 Although classification of foods in this way is interesting from a research perspective it is not currently useful for informing public health advice....
🍬 The main problem is that although it sounds like a good way of classifying foods, the category ‘ultra processed, is actually quite vague and poorly defined. In fact, some foods/meals that you might consider “healthy” because of their nutrition composition could very easily be classified as “ultra processed”, such as shop bought hummus and some yoghurts.
….
💫 Foods which fall into this group can also vary widely in their nutritional composition. E.g. it currently lumps together both gummy sweets, ready meals and margarine, all of which have vastly different nutritional values....
🍝 We know that people of lower socio-economic groups are more likely to eat convenience foods, due to cost and access, so demonising these foods and lumping them all together isn’t helpful and could demonise important sources of nourishment for these people....
WHY ARE SCIENTISTS STUDYING ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS?
👉 The amount of convenience food we are eating as a population is increasing....
☝️ Some people have suggested that some aspects of these foods could have health risks....
👀 In particular, they have suggested that the cooking processes and packaging could mean they contain more potentially cancer causing compounds than home cooked foods (e.g. acrylamide)....
⚡️They may also mean we consume more of some food additives which have been linked to cancer in animal models (e.g. sodium nitrate and titanium oxide)....
🙅♀️ However, these are still speculative, it’s unknown if there is a link between these things and cancer risk in people. ...
OK, I GET IT, BUT WHAT DID THIS STUDY FIND?
🤓 This study was an observational study that found a WEAK link between the amount of ultra-processed foods people consumed and their risk of cancer....
🧐 More specifically they saw that when the proportion of ultra processed food in the diet went up by 10%, peoples cancer risk increased by 12%....
☝️ It’s worth noting that this number of 12% looks high and scary but doesn’t mean that people’s risk went up TO 12%....
👉 Their total risk would still depend on what their baseline risk was, which is affected by many things including age and genetics as well as lifestyle....
👁 This study is also observational and due to the complex nature of the relationship between diet, lifestyle and cancer, the researchers themselves stated that impact of other confounding factors know to be linked to cancer can’t be fully excluded (e.g. smoking and physical activity)....
WHAT DOES THIS ADD TO CONVERSATION ABOUT ULTRA PROCESSED FOOD AND CANCER?
👩🔬 This is a new area of research. We currently know very little about ultra processed foods and cancer risk....
👩🏫 This is an exploratory study which can be used to shape further research as we establish more clearly what could be a problem and what needs to be studied further....
WHAT DO THESE FINDINGS MEAN FOR ME?
1️⃣This study DOES NOT mean that eating some foods categorised as ‘ultra processed’ will give you cancer....
2️⃣ These findings don’t change public healthy eating or lifestyle advice....
3️⃣ Just because a food is classified as ‘processed’ or ‘ultra-processed’ doesn’t automatically make it unhealthy. ...
4️⃣The best way to reduce your risk of cancer is still to eat a varied diet, keep active, avoid smoking and keep alcohol consumption low. ...
5️⃣ Don’t panic if you consume some foods in your diet which would classify as ultra processed - what’s important is that you do your best to get the basics right as above.
