Researching organic foods has been proven to lower the risk of cancer

Can protect the consumption of organic food from cancer?

Our diet has a big impact on health. A healthy diet can help prevent various diseases and even cancer. Researchers have now found that when people consume more organic produce, they rarely get cancer in subsequent years.

Researchers at the National Institute of La Sante et de la Recherche Medicale found in their current study that consuming organically grown produce reduces the risk of cancer. The physicians published the results of their study in the English language journal "JAMA Internal Medicine".

Organically grown foods do not contain pesticide residues, which is associated with a reduced risk of cancer. (Image: bit24 / fotolia.com)

Many foods contain pesticide residues

Unfortunately, many foods are contaminated by pesticides today. Consuming such contaminated foods can increase the likelihood of some diseases. The experts of the European Food Safety Authority announced in a report that 44 percent of the conventionally produced foods examined are contaminated by pesticides. However, such contamination of organically grown foods affects only 6.5 percent of the products. Because certain pesticides also include carcinogens associated with cancer, researchers wanted to find out if eating organic produce reduces cancer risk.

What are organically grown foods?

Organic foods are grown without the use of pesticides, artificial fertilizers or genetic engineering methods. Organic meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products come from animals that are not given antibiotics or growth hormones. The consumption of such products has been associated with a reduced risk of various cancers. The people who consumed the most organic foods had a 25 percent reduced risk of developing cancer compared to people who consumed the least organic produce. For example, a US study has shown that consumers of organic foods have a lower concentration of dialkyl phosphates in the urine. These are considered markers for exposure to pesticides.

Consumers of organic food are usually healthier

The current research does not show that organic foods are the direct cause of the reduced cancer risk. People who eat more organically grown foods usually have a healthier lifestyle, do more exercise, and consume more fruits and vegetables. Of course, the doctors tried to take these factors into account, but an influence on the results can not be ruled out. Thus, it is probably advisable to focus on a healthy diet with plenty of fruit, vegetables and fiber and low-meat to protect against cancer, say the experts. In addition, a healthy body weight should be respected, regularly exercised and quit smoking in order to reduce the risk of cancer significantly.

Questionnaires from 68,946 participants were evaluated

The experts of the Institut National de la Sante and the Recherche Medicale used their current study to evaluate the data from questionnaires from a total of 68,946 French people with an average age of 44.2 years. It was also about the consumption of various organic foods. During the following follow-up period of 4.5 years, there were a total of 1,340 diseases due to cancer, explain the authors.

Cancer risk was reduced by 25 percent

The risk of developing cancer was 25 percent lower among those who consumed the most organic foods compared to those who consumed the least organically grown foods. Most notable was the difference in lymphoma and specifically non-Hodgkin's lymphoma - forms of cancers that have occurred much more frequently in recent decades. It can not be ruled out that environmental factors are the cause of this.

Body weight, sports and healthy nutrition protect against cancer

Although there were a large number of participants in the survey who completed the questionnaires, the exact evaluation of the foods they eat is not that easy, since eaten organic foods are often consumed along with other foods. This could have led to falsified results. The influence of organically grown food is therefore not easy to prove. Clearer is the influence of body weight, physical activity and generally consumed healthy food, which can have a positive effect on the risk of cancer. (As)