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    Home > Food News > Nutrition News > Refute the rumors|Eating organic food can prevent cancer?

    Refute the rumors|Eating organic food can prevent cancer?

    • Last Update: 2021-06-28
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    With the improvement of living standards, people are very concerned about food safety issues.
    Therefore, organic food is favored by more and more people
    .
    However, is it healthier to eat organic food?
    Recently, there are reports on the Internet that the latest research shows that eating organic food can help you reduce your risk of cancer
    .
    A large number of media reported that eating organic food reduces the risk of cancer by 25%
    .
    Some even say that eating organic food can prevent cancer
    .

    What is going on with this research? Can organic food really prevent cancer?
    Healthy eating concept
     
    What is organic food?
    Although organic food is very popular, what exactly is organic food? Many people still have doubts
    .
     
    Organic food is actually a product for human consumption and animal use that is produced, processed, and sold in accordance with the standards of organic products
    .
    China's "Organic Products" national standard specifies various requirements for the production, processing, labeling and management of organic products in detail
    .
    For example, species (grain, vegetables, fruits, livestock, aquatic products, bees, etc.
    ) have not been genetically modified; chemically synthesized pesticides, fertilizers, growth regulators, feed additives and other substances must not be used in the production process
    .
    In addition, many detailed requirements have been made for water quality, air, and ecological environment
    .
    For example, the production base should be far away from urban areas, industrial and mining, traffic arteries, industrial pollution sources, domestic garbage dumps, and so on
    .
     
    Compared with ordinary products, the main difference between organic products lies in the control of the production process.
    Organic foods have stricter control over the production process.
    The use of pesticides, additives and chemical products, and the selection and waiting of venues are all stricter
    .
    Therefore, the production, processing and sales of organic products must be certified by government-certified agencies
    .

     
    organic food
    What is going on with this research?
    This study was completed by scientists from the French Institute of Health and Medicine (INSERM), the National Institute of Agriculture (INRA), the National University of Science, Technology and Management (CNAM), and the Paris Thirteenth Epidemic Nutrition Research Team.
    The results of the study are published in In the October 22nd "JAMA Internal Medicine" (JAMA Internal Medicine)
    .
     
    In this study, scientists recruited nearly 68,946 volunteers who participated in an ongoing study on the link between nutrition and health in France
    .
    Volunteers have filled in information about their consumption of organic products, which include fruits and vegetables, dairy products, meat and fish, eggs, bread and other foods
    .
    In addition, participants also filled out an annual questionnaire about their health status, including cancer cases, and the average follow-up time was 4.
    5 years
    .
     
    During this period, a total of 1,340 study volunteers had cancer
    .
    The most common is breast cancer (459 people), followed by prostate cancer (180 people), skin cancer (135 people), colorectal cancer (99 people) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (47 people)
    .

     
    Researchers calculated the negative correlation between eating the most organic foods and overall cancer risk
    .
    Those who ate the most organic foods were 25% less likely to develop cancer
    .
    Specifically, their likelihood of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was reduced by 73%, and the incidence of breast cancer after menopause was reduced by 21%
    .
     
    Are the results of the research credible?
    This study did find a direct relationship between organic food and the possible benefits of cancer
    .
    However, this study alone cannot conclude that eating organic food can prevent cancer or prevent you from cancer
    .

     
    In fact, after analyzing this research, the British NHS believes that this research also has some shortcomings:
     
    First of all, in this study, the group who ate the most organic foods and the group who ate the least organic foods actually both had cancer, and there was no big difference in the number of people with cancer, 269 and 360 respectively
    .
    Even if there is some relationship, it does not mean that eating organic food can guarantee no cancer
    .

    Secondly, in comparison with some specific cancers, the sample size data of the study is too small, and the persuasiveness is also discounted to a certain extent
    .
    For example, for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, the group that ate the least organic food had 15 cases, while the group that ate the most organic food had only 2 cases
    .

    In addition, the data on organic food consumption in this study are all obtained at one time and self-filled.
    You must know that everyone’s memory is limited, and many people can’t even remember what they ate or how much they ate the day before yesterday.
    Clearly, the organic food consumption data provided by volunteers does not accurately reflect their diet
    .
    Moreover, the volunteers recruited in the study are recruited through the Internet, and the sample size is indeed large, but the representativeness of the volunteers recruited on the Internet is often relatively poor.
    People who often go online and are willing to participate in such voluntary activities are generally For those with relatively high economic conditions and education, their daily eating habits may themselves be much healthier than ordinary people, so it is difficult to eliminate the influence of other life factors
    .
    For this reason, experts at King's College London also believe that to say that eating organic foods can prevent cancer is totally exaggerating the conclusions of the study
    .
     
    In fact, in 2014, there was a study with a larger sample size in the United Kingdom, which concluded that organic foods did not reduce the incidence of cancer
    .
    Researchers believe that regular consumption of organic food will not reduce the risk of cancer, so people don't need to care too much about whether the food is organically grown.
    If you are worried about pesticide residues in non-organic food, just wash it before eating
    .

     
    In this study, the researchers investigated the diet of approximately 600,000 women over the age of 50, and tracked their incidence of 16 common cancers in women over the nine years following the investigation
    .
    The results of the study showed that during this period of time, about 50,000 study subjects had developed cancer, and the comparison results showed that whether they often eat organic food or not has nothing to do with their risk of cancer
    .
    Those women who eat organic foods have a slightly lower risk of developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but a small increase in breast cancer risk
    .
     
    Do you want to eat organic food?
    Cancer is a disease caused by a combination of many factors.
    Age, gender, weight, genetic factors, environment, occupational nature, living habits, exercise, diet, viral or bacterial infections, human immunity, etc.
    , will all have an impact on the occurrence of cancer.
    , Diet is just one of many influencing factors
    .
     
    A single food or food ingredient does not fight cancer
    .
    To reduce the risk of cancer, the main thing is to rely on a balanced diet and a healthy life>
    .

     
    Organic food is not safer or healthier than ordinary food, nor can it prevent cancer
    .
    If you are worried about pesticide residues, washing or peeling before eating can reduce the amount of pesticide residues
    .
    As for organic food, whether to eat or not to eat depends entirely on your pocketbook
    .
     
    Reference materials:
     
    Baudry J, Assmann KE, Touvier M, et al.
    Association of Frequency of Organic Food Consumption With Cancer Risk-Findings From the NutriNet-Santé Prospective Cohort StudyJAMA Internal Medicine.
    Published online October 22 2018.
     
    Behind the Headlines .
    NHS.
    Eating organic food linked with lower cancer risk.
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