from Hacker News

Is everything we eat associated with cancer? A systematic cookbook review

by sridca on 6/1/19, 6:35 PM with 61 comments

  • by jdietrich on 6/1/19, 7:01 PM

    See also Kill or Cure, a comprehensive index of every Daily Mail article claiming that something causes or prevents cancer.

    https://kill-or-cure.herokuapp.com/

  • by bencollier49 on 6/1/19, 7:03 PM

    Wow, that was quite a read. What does seem to stand out is the danger of negative results not being published. 99 studies look at an ingredient, find nothing, don't publish. Through pure chance, the hundredth study finds a correlation, and everyone is immediately convinced that yet another ingredient is unhealthy.

  • by open-source-ux on 6/1/19, 7:21 PM

    Cancer Research UK (a medical charity) has a good summary of some common food controversies - foods that are claimed to either cause or curtail cancer.

    The entry on 'super foods' states:

    > "...the term ‘superfood’ is really just a marketing tool, with little scientific basis. It’s certainly true that a healthy, balanced and varied diet can help to reduce the risk of cancer but it is unlikely that any single food will make a major difference on its own."

    https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-canc...

    Also worth a read:

    Bacon, salami and sausages: how does processed meat cause cancer and how much matters? (April 2019)

    https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2019/04/26/bacon-sa...

  • by aszantu on 6/1/19, 7:45 PM

    You can basically dump all mouse studies, since the standard kibble was something high sugary/starchy. Add fat -> cancer; add more sugar -> cancer...; add more protein -> cancer Epidemiological stuff is flawed as well. Unless the people are kept in a closed ward and every meal is kept under close observation, it's probably not "clean" data.

    There is hope though... annecdotal evidence seems to point towards unprocessed food as a good tool to fight cancer. Even better when it's low carb.

    http://www.diagnosisdiet.com/meat-and-cancer/ source for the mouse model studies

    http://meatheals.com/category/cancer/ anecdotal evidence, you'll prolly find some vegans as well if you go looking.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tteYZfMat4 some interesting talk about the efficiency of treatment in some cancers. Might help to make a better informed decision if it ever hits you.

  • by INTPenis on 6/1/19, 8:39 PM

    I think we as humans are just associated with cancer. Regardless of what we eat.

    My soul mate exercised, ate well and natural but still got breast cancer. Because it was in her family. Cancer hits so many people that it seems like it's just a natural way of population control to me.

    Or perhaps a side effect from being multi-celled creatures in a universe with background radiation.

  • by m3kw9 on 6/1/19, 8:19 PM

    Everything we do on a daily bases has a chance to increase or decrease the chances of each part of our body of getting it. Even if you do nothing

  • by boringusername on 6/1/19, 7:47 PM

    This is the inevitable result of clueless reporting on bad epidemiological studies.

    Look at any study behind one of these headlines and there will be a raft of confounding factors that were never controlled for. The data is close to meaningless at a certain point.

  • by agumonkey on 6/1/19, 7:43 PM

    A subtle way to suggest fasting ?

  • by purplezooey on 6/1/19, 7:49 PM

    I heard coffee is still good

  • by rrwright on 6/1/19, 10:05 PM

    From the abstract:

    “Statistically significant results were more likely than nonsignificant findings to be published in the study abstract than in only the full text (P < 0.0001).“

  • by newnewpdro on 6/1/19, 7:38 PM

    It's probabilistic, the best you can do is minimize your chances but everything causes harm to some degree until you're dead.

  • by nradov on 6/1/19, 7:14 PM

    If you live long enough you will eventually die of cancer. It's inevitable.

  • by pdimitar on 6/1/19, 7:13 PM

    At this point I almost expect an article titled "All oxygen-breathing organisms are a fatally flawed design and are doomed to never live healthy no matter what".

    :(

  • by 781 on 6/1/19, 7:02 PM

    There are scientists who argue that what the mitochondria does is fundamentally cancerigenic on a long enough timeline, so in a sense, yes, everything we eat is associated with cancer.

    https://www.nature.com/articles/cr2017155

  • by sridca on 6/2/19, 12:29 AM

    Related - meat & cancer: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20029519

    (Ctrl+F "cancer" in that thread for amusement)