What’s the “worst” food for avoiding colon cancer?
In the December edition of Nutrition Action Health Letter, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) spotlights foods that are the “best” and “worst” for “preventing colon cancer.”
In Part 1 of the series, we covered the “best” food. Part 2 covers the “second best” food. Part 3 covers the “worst” foods.
CSPI says the “worst” foods for avoiding colon cancer are “red or processed meats” like bacon, hot dogs, sausage, lunch meats, beef, pork and lamb.
But as Steve Milloy pointed out in his January 2005 FoxNews.com column “No Beef Behind Red-Meat Cancer Scare”, the meat-cancer link is more agenda-driven science — like the agenda of a vegetarian researcher at the National Cancer Institute.
Check out JunkScience.com’s False Alarm: The Center for Science in the Public Interest, 1971-2006.
A better correlation would be that meat is expensive. Those who can afford more meat are more likely to be able to afford more medication and health care. Thus they live longer. Given enough time, everyone will eventually get cancer, so more people die of cancer.
This is why cancer was a rare disease in most ancient cultures, but was well documented in the Roman Patrician class (who lived to their 50s or even 70s).
And part 4 covers why fat isn’t bad.
“Why one wonders, are so many studies contradictory?
The underlying reason for this type confusing headlines is that many scientists confuse correlation with causality. They do a study, find a link between the one and the other (correlation) and then they just assume causality.
A point in case:
Conclusion of a study: Meat causes cancer, especially red meat.
Correlation: more meat more cancer.
Causality: Almost all meat, but certainly red meat, is roasted/baked/grilled. The process of roasting/baking/grilling produces aromatic esters which are known long time to be carcinogenic. Red meat is nearly always roasted/baked/grilled therefore one sees more cancer in people who eat red meat.
The conclusion of the study would then have to be: Fried food increased the risk of cancer.
I will try to make the dangers of such correlation/causality clear by means of an example how this process takes place.
The hypothesis that obesity is detrimental to the health.
It doesn’t take much reading to discover this to be completely false but nevertheless time and time again we are brainwashed that we must be slim, be sportive, eat healthy.”
More here
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