13 Cancer Causing Foods in Your Diet

We mostly eat with our eyes for our tongue, without much thinking about healthy and unhealthy. But gone is the time when we used to get fresh fruits and quality vegetables, now our life more or less revolves around processed foods which are slowly taking us towards the painful journey of cancer. Have you ever tried to know that the foods you savor contain harmful chemicals like plutonium, bisphenol-A, hydrocarbons etc. which actually are carcinogenic things which mean they are the cancer-causing substances in our food, they are in disguise and hence we need to be more vigilant.

Let’s figure out such foods in our diet that we are unaware about, and are pushing us towards the danger

  1. Hydrogenated oils and Refined oils:

No matter how much the refined oil advertisements scream and tell us about “low-absorb”, “good for heart”, “oryzanol” and other stuff… sticking to the roots with mustard, groundnut and coconut oils is the best.

Hydrogenated oils

Vegetable oils are often rancid due to heavy processing and oxidation. The hydrogenation process increased the shelf life of vegetable oils, but consuming them has repeatedly been shown in the scientific literature to induce many forms of cancer.

  1. Canned tomatoes:

Any processed or canned food is unhealthy, but canned tomatoes have an extra edge over all these because of the acidic nature. Where raw tomatoes are referred as something that can help prevent cancer, the canned ones are the absolute opposite of that. These canned products have a lining of BPA i.e. Bisphenol-A which is a harmful industrial chemical product.

Canned tomatoes

  1. Refined sugar:

Cancer cells nurture and grow themselves on sugar, refined sugar brings in refined carbohydrates which boost the formation of malignant cells. Anyone who wants to prevent cancer or is fighting to cure it must avoid having white sugar. Going natural way is better than refined one. Plus as the body and all healthy cells also need glucose we can explore healthier options like jaggery and honey.

Refined sugar

  1. Processed meat:

Yup, you heard me right, by processed meat I mean your loved hot dogs, sausages, bacon etc.

While preparing these lot of salt and various chemicals are used, which in turns damage our health. The preservatives and chemicals generally used are like Sodium nitrate which is a carcinogen, but it makes food appealing. When we grill them they are even further degraded, because of the tar from the smoke.

processed meat

  1. Smoked and grilled food

We see the rise in the sell of tandoors and griller’s, as people love that smoky smell in there paneer, fish, chicken etc. The slightly burnt and blackened areas of the grilled food are visually appealing but they increase the risk of not just one but three different types of cancer viz. Stomach, colon and pancreatic cancers.

The main block that makeup protein is Amino Acids when the protein foods are burnt these amino acids get converted into heterocyclic amines (HCA). Most of them are highly carcinogenic because they cause damage to our DNAs and induce mutations.

While we grill these fat-rich foods, the fat gets burnt and the smoke that it produces is absorbed by the food, at the same time it induces a good dose of Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons inside the food making it carcinogenic, and converting healthy food into unhealthy food.

smoked grilled food

  1. Potato chips

Earlier our mums used to make potato chips and sago papad at home, they were clean, sundried and healthy. Then the generation came which is always racing against the time and we preferred to buy these things from the market. They are cheap, taste great and are a quick snack. We even see kids wandering with these chips packets in their hands.

I don’t need to reiterate that these products are full of fat and calories, which have excessive levels of sodium which caused High BP. There is nothing good about these products they have artificial taste enhancers, colors, preservatives and the worst thing is they are fried at such a high temperature to make it crispy that it also makes one more ingredient (not mentioned on any chips packet) called Acrylamide, which is a well-known carcinogen. Which is even found in cigarettes.

So control your urge and guide your kids and stay away from these “wolf in sheep’s skin” product.

Potato chips

  1. Processed white flours

Too much of refining of flour destroys the natural nutrients, and with the demand of flour always increasing the flour mills are using chlorine gas to whiten the flour rather than following the old process of waiting for the flour to whiten with time.

As we know high amount of chlorine is poisonous, these white processed flours increase blood sugar level and insulin as they have a high glycemic rate which helps the cancer cells for a rapid growth as well as can cause diabetes.

processed white flours

  1. GMO’s

Organic, Organic, Organic….. Is not just a buzz word, but it’s the healthiest way of eating, with all these GMO’s i.e. genetically modified crops and organism coming into our lives.  As the name suggests GMO’s are foods modified with the heavy use of chemicals or for the matter of fact grown on or with chemicals.

How healthy does it sound!!!!

These can affect your entire digestive system, brain, liver, immune systems as well as boost the pre-cancerous cell growth.

Unfortunately, almost all grains, including soybeans, wheat, and corn, have been grown via GMO’s. To save yourself from these look for “GMO free” foods.

  1. Artificial sweetener

While on a fitness regime we reject the white sugar and look for artificial sweeteners. Most of our celebrities also endorse the goodness of these artificial sweeteners but are they really sweet on our health.

The answer is a big NO- Sweeteners containing aspartame, saccharin or sucralose, which may lead to bladder cancer, lymphoma and leukemia,

  1. Soda Pop’s

Sodas were never considered Good not for kids not for elders. Most of them contain high levels of 4-methylimidazole, an animal carcinogen. Aspartame the sweetener in diet soda’s was researched and linked to blood as well as brain cancer

  1. Alcohol

We see many research and people advocating the goodness of “moderate” consumption of alcohol being good for cardiovascular health, but actually, it increases the cancer risk.

They can vary from esophagus, colon, rectum to breast cancer.

Alcohol increases the production of stomach acids that damage the inner layer of the intestine, people suffering from ulcer have an aggravated problem. The main component of any alcoholic beverage is Ethanol, it gets converted into Acetaldehyde which actually damages the DNA and triggers cancer. It also harmfully affects the liver by increasing production of estrogen and accelerates the growth of liver.

  1. Salty and pickled food

Food with a high level of salt added flavors and preservatives can never be good for you. These foods have nitrates or nitrites which are used to increase the shelf life and act as preservatives as well as to look the food more tasty to eyes.

Nitrates are innocent, they don’t cause cancer however under some particular body conditions once they enter your body they change into N-nitroso composites. This N-nitroso increases the risk of developing cancers.

Apart from cancer highly pickled products can give various stomach problems starting from peptic ulcers to colorectal cancer

  1. Microwave popcorn

Making popcorn in the microwave is very fast and convenient rather than making it in a pressure cooker on a gas stove. But what if you come to know that this convenience costs you your health, it can put you at risk of cancer.

microwave popcorn

Microwave popcorn bags have a wax coating when heated they produce a carcinogenic compound called perfluorooctanoic acid, which leads to prostate and liver cancer.

The risk of making microwave popcorn was pointed out long back in 1993, but because of mere convenience in our busy lifestyle we are still making it all in a working way.


Ujjwal Mishra

Ujjwal Mishra is a story teller, she likes to weave stories and characters with her writing. She is a full time working professional and a mom of 2 kids. Passionate in writing about kids, moms in modern times and there well beings. Follows a Healthy lifestyle and believes in chasing fitness goals. Engineer by education currently working into Human Resource field.

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