Ultraprocessed foods, cancer

You know the old routine ... thigh bone’s connected to the hip bone. The hip bone’s connected to the backbone ... and so it goes. In the body, everything is interconnected.

Take ingesting ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), resulting obesity, and the risk of developing mouth, throat and esophageal cancers.

That chain of cause and effect has long been suspected. But it turns out, according to a new study published in the European Journal of Nutrition, even when UPFs don’t contribute to obesity, they may be cancer-causing culprits.

Researchers analyzed up to 12 years of diet and lifestyle data on around 200,000 adults and discovered that the ingredients in UPFs, such as emulsifiers and stabilizers, may contribute to an increased cancer risk even if a person indulging in those foods isn’t carrying excess weight. This comes on the heels of the EPIC study that found that increasing intake of UPFs by 10% boosted the risk of breast and ovarian cancer and overall upped the risk of death from any cancer.

So, whether you’re a healthy weight or obese, it’s smart to avoid ultraprocessed foods, such as fast foods, frozen pizza, soda, sugary sweets, salty snacks, chips, and most breakfast cereals. Whole foods known to help fight cancer include high-fiber fruits and vegetables and the nutrients calcium, zinc, and vitamins A, K2, D, C and the Bs. According to the National Foundation for Cancer Research, “approximately 30%-40% of cancer diagnoses could be prevented by modest diet and lifestyle changes.” And an important, but modest, change is banishing UPFs.

Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb. com, the world’s leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively.