Easy-to-eat instant processed foods, especially ultra-processed foods containing meat, increase the risk of colorectal cancer in men, a study has found.
Researchers at Harvard University and Tufts University in the United States studied the relationship between ultraprocessed food intake and cancer risk in 200,000 people over 25 years.
Participants were provided with information regarding how often they ate the 130 foods presented, and the researchers divided the participants into five groups. During the 25 years of the study, 1294 of 46,341 men and 1922 of 159,907 women were diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
As a result of the analysis, it was found that there is a clear correlation between the two because people who eat a lot of ultra-processed foods have a higher risk of colorectal cancer. Men who ate the most ultraprocessed foods had a 30% increased risk of colorectal cancer.
Interestingly, this association was only seen in men.
Among processed foods, products containing meat such as sausages, bacon, ham and fish cakes were found to be the worst for health. Consumption of sugary drinks and carbonated drinks also increased the risk of cancer.
“Processed meat, mostly in the ultra-processed food category, is a strong risk factor for colorectal cancer,” said study lead author Dr. Lu Wang. is known to be a risk factor for colorectal cancer.
However, not all processed foods are bad for the body. Processed dairy products, such as yogurt, were inversely correlated with colorectal cancer risk in women.
That said, women who consumed processed dairy actually had a slightly lower risk of colon cancer. However, no similar correlation was found in men.
Given that cancer can take years or even decades to develop, this study gives more confidence in the results than other cancer studies, the researchers said.
However, it remains to be seen whether there are actual differences between men and women in the way our bodies process these foods, whether the result that did not show an association for women was just a coincidence, or whether there were other uncontrolled confounding factors that weakened the association between women. The researchers added that it needs to be elucidated in the study.
The results of this study were published in the international medical journal ‘BMJ’ under the title ‘Association of ultra-processed food consumption with colorectal cancer risk among men and women: results from three prospective US cohort studies’.
Reporter Jeong Hee-eun eun@kormedi.com
ⓒ ‘Honest knowledge for health’ Comedy.com (https://kormedi.com) / Unauthorized reproduction-redistribution prohibited
