Ultra-Processed Foods May Increase Cancer Risk

A new study published in the British Medical Journal reported that individuals who eat more highly processed foods have higher odds of developing cancer than their counterparts who eat less processed foods. In fact, the risk went up to 12 percent in the group consuming the most highly processed foods. Although correlational in nature, the study was a prospective study conducted in just over 100,000 individuals over an 8-year period of time. Correlation (when two things are associated) does not equal causation (when we know that one things causes another), but this is not the first time processed foods have been linked with cancer. The association may be due to a number of factors including the poor nutritional value of the food, dietary constituents such as sugar that may lead to inflammation, and additives that in and of themselves may be carcinogenic.

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