5 Foods That Could Increase Your Risk of Cancer

Everyone knows someone that has fought cancer, and chances are many of us know someone who has lost their battle. It is a sad fact of life in the world in which we live. This horrible disease impacts all of us in one way or another, and physicians everywhere are diligently working to identify the causes and to create new treatments to stop cancer in its tracks. Currently, even the treatments such as chemotherapy are almost as bad as the disease itself. Regular treatments such as these can make you lose your hair, feel deathly ill, and much more. Given these effects, it makes sense that one would want to try to do everything they can do avoid cancer. While most of us are familiar with some of the biggest causes of cancer such as smoking, many people don’t realize that even the food we eat could cause cancer.

Foods That Could Cause Cancer

Sure, we already know that many foods aren’t very good for us, despite their great taste. However, some foods have been shown to increase the risks of various types of cancers. Let’s take a look at five of these foods so we all know what to avoid in our diets.

1. Grilled Red Meat

Who doesn’t love a nice juicy steak, but when you cook meat at very high temperatures, such as on a grill, heterocyclic aromatic amines are produced, which are known carcinogens. This can’t be cooked away either. According to the National Cancer Institute, there are still no official guidelines from health organizations about meat prepared in this manner.

2. Potato Chips

I love chips, so when I learned about this one I was really disappointed. When starchy foods such as potatoes are fried at very high temperatures, a product called acrylamide is created. This is a carcinogen that is documented to increase the risk of various cancers.

3. Hydrogenated Oils

Hydrogenated oils are basically vegetable oils that have undergone a chemical process. The resulting oil is very high in trans fats. These trans fats will not only increase your risk of obesity, but it has also been showing to increase your risk of developing various types of cancers including pancreatic cancer, skin cancer, and rectal cancer.

4. Refined Sugar

How many of you love sweets? I know I do. However, the refined sugar found in these sweets are food for cancer cells. At the same time, they also increase your risk of obesity which has been shown to increase the risk for developing many different types of cancers including uterine, pancreatic, breast, and more.

5. Processed Meats

Processed meats such as lunch meat, bacon and hot dogs contain very little that is actually good for you. They are filled with preservatives and other chemicals that won’t benefit your health in any way. On top of that, during processing, the meat can often become contaminated with the known carcinogen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. This carcinogen can also be found in cigarettes.

Conclusion

I know many of these foods are actually quite good. Who doesn’t love a good piece of bacon in the mornings for breakfast? However, these foods have been shown to increase your risk in cancer, meaning you should really limit how much of it you eat and some you should probably leave out of your diet entirely.