We all know the importance of a healthy and balanced diet. But with the abundance of food information available online, it can be confusing to know which foods you should or shouldn’t be eating.
A social media dietician has shared advice online about two foods that you should definitely avoid consuming too much of, or it could increase your risk of developing cancer.
Nichole, known as oncology.nutrition.rd on TikTok, is known for sharing health advice on social media. She recently turned her attention to one food that may boost cancer risk.
She said consuming 50g of the popular food every day could actually increase your risk of developing cancer “by 18 per cent”.
Nichole said: “As a cancer dietitian I talk about how there are only two foods that increase your cancer risk. Alcohol is number one – it’s going to increase risk of seven different cancers, and then processed meat, which are those pre-cooked meats in the grocery store that increase the risk of colorectal cancer.
“So this is relative risk, it can increase your risk more and more over time, the more that you have compared to someone who hasn’t had any of those. Some people will be like ‘oh, it’s only a few percentages, or 15 per cent, like that’s not that much.’
“You obviously haven’t had cancer. You obviously haven’t known anyone to have cancer. Do you think anyone will want to increase their risk?”
Eating processed meat has been linked to an increased risk of colorectal cancer that effects the colon or rectum. Studies have shown it can have an impact on the disease developing at some point in your life. However eating processed meat does not mean you’ll automatically get cancer.
Meat becomes processed when it has chemicals added to it to help it last longer before it goes off. Nitrates and nitrites added to processed meats can lead to the development of compounds that damage DNA.
The meat may be cured, salted, smoked or preserved in some way to make it processed, such as bacon, sandwich ham, corned beef and some sausages.
Alcohol has also been linked to increased cancer risk as it can lead to cells dividing more, which boosts the chances of cancer developing. The more you drink, the higher your risk may be.
But again, drinking alcohol or eating processed meats does not mean you will definitely develop cancer, while it does increase your risk.
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