Ultra-processed Foods Tied to Higher Risk for Colon Cancer

Ultra-processed Foods Tied to Higher Risk for Colon Cancer

ISLAMABAD, (Online) - People who eat ultra-processed food – think soda, chips and candies – face higher risks of developed colon cancer and of dying from heart disease.

While it’s long been known these foods are not good for you, the two studies published in the journal TheBMJ offers more details of just how bad they are for your health.

Ultra-processed foods – or UPFs -- are highly manipulated and packed with added ingredients, including sugar, fat, and salt, and are low in protein and fiber. They include soft drinks, chips, chocolate, candy, ice cream, sweetened breakfast cereals, packaged soups, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, french fries, and many more.

Over the past 30 years, people around the world are eating more and more of these products. That has come even with mounting evidence that diets rich in UPFs raise the risk for several chronic diseases, including heart disease and cancer. Few studies, however, have focused specifically on the risk for colon cancer.

Novel Data

For the new studies, researchers looked at data from 206,248 American adults (46,341 men, 159,907 women) from three major U.S. health databases. For the databases, patients answered details questionnaires about their diets every four years.

During up to 28 years of follow-up, 1,294 men and 1,922 women developed colon cancer.

Men who ate the most ultra-processed food had a 29% higher risk for colon cancer.

Drilling down into the data, meat-, poultry- and seafood-based, ready-to-eat products and sugary drinks were associated with increased risk for colon cancer among men.

These products include some processed meats like sausages, bacon, ham, and fish cakes. “This is consistent with our hypothesis," lead author Lu Wang, PhD, with Tufts University in Boston, said in a news release.

There was no link between ultra-processed foods and risk for colon cancer in women and the reasons for this are unclear, the researchers say.

However, there was a link between ready-to-eat/heat mixed dishes and colon cancer risk among women. Meanwhile, foods like yogurt and dairy desserts helped appear to limit colon cancer risk for women.

It’s possible that foods like yogurt help counteract the harmful impacts of other types of UPFs in women, the researchers say. But more research is needed.

Hard on the Heart Too

A related study in The BMJ also show a link between a low-quality diet that includes lots of ultra-processed food and increased risk of death from heart disease or any other cause.

In this study of 22,895 Italian adults (average age, 55 years; 48% men), those with the least healthy diets had a 19% higher risk of dying from any cause and a 32% higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease over 14 years, compared with peers with the healthiest diets.

A Call to Action

Putting it bluntly, "Everybody needs food, but nobody needs ultra-processed foods," Carlos Monteiro, MD, PhD, and Geoffrey Cannon, with University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, write in an editorial in TheBMJ.

They point out that most UPFs are made, sold, and promoted by corporations that make them to be convenient, affordable, and what’s called “hyper-palatable,” meaning they are high in salt, sugar and fat and are cheap and accessible.

Monteiro and Cannon suggest governments should produce guidelines and public interest campaigns advising to limit how much of these products people eat. But they also suggest new laws to limit production of ultra-processed foods or to limit how they’re advertised.

What’s also needed, they say are, "available, attractive, and affordable" supplies of fresh and minimally processed foods, as well as national programs to promote and support freshly prepared meals made with fresh and minimally processed foods, using small amounts of processed culinary ingredients and processed foods.

"Enacted, this will promote public health. It will also nourish families, society, economies, and the environment," they wrote.