Processed ‘convenience’ foods linked to higher risk of cancer

EATING too much highly processed food could significantly increase the risk of cancer, a study suggests.

The research, involving more than 100,000 adults, found that every 10 per cent increase in consumption of ready meals, sugary cereals and salty snacks is linked to a 12 per cent rise in cancer risks. Such foods now make up more than half the British diet, on average, separate data show. This is the highest proportion across European nations.

The study warned that the “rapidly increasing” consumption of heavily processed foods seen in recent years could drive an increasing burden of cancer in coming decades.

Scientists raised fears that the additives used to produce such foods could increase the risk of cancer. They urged consumers to try to eat more fresh or minimally processed foods as a “precautionary” principle. However, the research was observational, meaning it could not demonstrate whether it was the type of food itself that caused the increased risk of cancer. Experts said those eating a diet heavy in convenience foods and other “ultraprocessed” snacks such as fizzy drinks and crisps were also far more likely to be overweight, which is already known to increase the risk of at least 11 types of cancer.

The study by the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Sao Paulo was based on 104,980 healthy French adults, measuring their intake of 3,300 different food items.

Foods were grouped according to degree of processing and tracked for an average of five years.

Ultra-processed foods include packaged baked goods and snacks, fizzy drinks, sugary cereals, ready meals and reconstituted meat products – often containing high levels of sugar, fat, and salt, but lacking in vitamins and fibre.

A 10 per cent increase in the proportion of ultra-processed foods in the diet was associated with increases of 12 per cent in the overall risk of cancer, with an 11 per cent in breast cancer risk.

No such rise was linked to foods designated as merely “processed” – such as cheeses and canned vegetables. Consumption of fresh or minimally processed foods – such as fruit, vegetables, pulses, rice, pasta, eggs, meat, fish and milk – was associated with the lowest risks.

Study author Dr Mathilde Touvier, a nutritional epidemiologist at Sorbonne Paris Cité Epidemiology and Statistics Research Center said: “To our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate and highlight an increase in the risk of overall – and specifically breast – cancer associated with ultra-processed food intake.”

Studies in animals have suggested some additives used in processing could be carcinogenic.

Dr Touvier urged consumers to “apply the principle of precaution”.