Is everything we eat linked to cancer?

Some studies show that certain ingredients increase the risk, while others say they protect against it.

The new year has ushered in another change in potential health hazards in our daily lives.This time, according to the "Jan" newspaper, researchers at the Sorbonne in Paris found that preservatives added to food, extending shelf life (nitrites in bacon, sorbates in baked goods, acetates in ready-to-eat meals), increased the risk of cancer, especially of the breast and prostate.

It is still unclear how these trace amounts of chemicals induce various genetic mutations that lead to malignant transformation of normal cells.The size of the study (involving more than 100,000 adults) and its publication in a reputable journal also suggest that something may be wrong... Many foods and nutrients have been implicated in the same way over the years, such as the academic article Is Everything We Eat Linked to Cancer?This point is vividly illustrated in ?

The author, Professor John Ioannidis, began by randomly selecting a dozen recipes from The Boston Cookbook, including veal chops, cottage pie, lamb croquettes, lemon pie, stewed tripe, cheese fondue, and so on.This generated a list of 50 unique ingredients – butter, tomatoes, salt, flour, carrots, wine, etc.

For a quarter of these items, no effect was found.But for everyone else, the study shows that the combination will increase the risk of cancer or protect against it.However, the results are mixed.For the same reason, some studies point to the former, others to the latter.Of course, this is an illusion that humans can understand correctly that all such results are false.

“Hingy” and “boke” – Finding the right words for the right symptoms.

Despite the extraordinary richness of the English language, many common experiences do not have names.This lack of appropriate terminology occurs especially when it comes to diseases like the flu.Of course there are words to describe the classic symptoms of headache, muscle aches and fever, but nothing can capture the deep pain of all the combined sensations.

Doctors, who tend to be more introspective than most people about their own illnesses, often find that their subjective experiences fit little with the standard descriptions in medical textbooks.Surprisingly, people comment on how they feel about communication difficulties.

This vocabulary, suggests family doctor Douglas Macrae, will sometimes be filled with idiomatic expressions of local dialects.In Lanarkshire, where she works, a preferred term is "hingy" - applied to a child who is not obviously unwell, but becomes so, with flushing and irritability.When a mother tells her that "weaning is lovely", she knows how to pay attention.

These local dialects may also contain words that convey the sound of moaning, such as "boke" or the more guttural "boachchi" for choking."Dry Bokeh" is unproductive, "Wet Bokeh" is self-explanatory.Other examples of similar expressive terminology are welcome.

The benefits of a regular night pass

Finally, a note on the convincing evidence of the benefits of a regular evening tip (or puff) to protect against diabetes, as recently noted in this column.Alcohol's many favorite properties include its role as an antiseptic;athlete's foot healing;relieves muscle aches and pains;prolongs life and, as reported by a woman in her early thirties, facilitates conception.

She tried for years without success to get pregnant, following official advice that the "safest option" was to abstain from drinking alcohol - so as not to harm the fetus.

Then one evening she lost it and, when her period missed two weeks later, she knew that the pregnancy she had been hoping for must have happened.Could these two events be connected, he wondered?Looking back, she realized that the most likely reason why she couldn't conceive was because she slept drunk all night.

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Is everything we eat linked to cancer?

Some studies suggest that some ingredients increase risk, while others say they protect against it