# Ultra-processed foods 'linked to cancer'



## Northerner (Feb 15, 2018)

A link between highly processed foods and cancer has been suggested by French researchers.

They classified foods including cakes, chicken nuggets and mass-produced bread as "ultra-processed".

A study of 105,000 people hinted the more of such foods people ate, the greater their risk of cancer.

A lot of caution is being expressed about the study, but experts said a healthy diet is best.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43064290


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## Robin (Feb 15, 2018)

It's probably more about what they're not eating, like fruit and veg.


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## Radders (Feb 15, 2018)

Robin said:


> It's probably more about what they're not eating, like fruit and veg.


I agree. I wonder when they will explain what kind of processes exactly that they think are so bad. I have always been sceptical about the idea that cooking at home is somehow not “processing” the food. And there are so many “processes” which are beneficial: pasteurising milk, for instance. I think this kind of headline is very unhelpful especially to people who for one reason or another are reliant on the ready meals that have all been written off as cancer causing.


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## kentish maid (Feb 15, 2018)

Radders said:


> I agree. I wonder when they will explain what kind of processes exactly that they think are so bad. I have always been sceptical about the idea that cooking at home is somehow not “processing” the food. And there are so many “processes” which are beneficial: pasteurising milk, for instance. I think this kind of headline is very unhelpful especially to people who for one reason or another are reliant on the ready meals that have all been written off as cancer causing.


I was thinking about ready meals the other day, when a friend told me an elderly relation was getting meals delivered now from one of the many firms that have sprung up providing frozen ready meals.  As this person is diabetic, and I had been advised on the course I attended that ready meals were a no go area, I wondered how a diabetic reliant on such a firm would cope.


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## HOBIE (Feb 15, 2018)

Plastic FOOD !


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## Radders (Feb 15, 2018)

kentish maid said:


> I was thinking about ready meals the other day, when a friend told me an elderly relation was getting meals delivered now from one of the many firms that have sprung up providing frozen ready meals.  As this person is diabetic, and I had been advised on the course I attended that ready meals were a no go area, I wondered how a diabetic reliant on such a firm would cope.


I think the advice health professionals give often has to be simplified. This can result in useful rules of thumb which people find easy to remember, such as treating a hypo with 15g then waiting 15 minutes, or never eating anything white, or filling half the plate with veg. As we learn about our condition most of us probably realise where we can get away with bending the rules, and which ones we can tweak or even safely ditch. I think the “ready meals” thing is another example as not all ready meals are the same. I do wonder whether the packaging might have something to do with it but then lots of non ready meals also come in packaging and if we re-use things in an attempt to be more planet friendly we might be consuming more nasties that way!


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## Radders (Feb 15, 2018)

HOBIE said:


> Plastic FOOD !


what do you mean by that term Hobie?


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## mikeyB (Feb 15, 2018)

I suppose Haggis and Black Pudding are both highly processed, but it’s all natural and healthy. You just have to pick your process.


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## kentish maid (Feb 15, 2018)

Radders said:


> I think the advice health professionals give often has to be simplified. This can result in useful rules of thumb which people find easy to remember, such as treating a hypo with 15g then waiting 15 minutes, or never eating anything white, or filling half the plate with veg. As we learn about our condition most of us probably realise where we can get away with bending the rules, and which ones we can tweak or even safely ditch. I think the “ready meals” thing is another example as not all ready meals are the same. I do wonder whether the packaging might have something to do with it but then lots of non ready meals also come in packaging and if we re-use things in an attempt to be more planet friendly we might be consuming more nasties that way!


Reusing packaging opens up a whole new can of worms. Someone once told me that I should use an antibacterial spray on the jute bags I reuse for the supermarket. Far cry from our parents day when meat wrapped in paper would sit on top of unwrapped vegetable in the reusable wicker shopping basket.


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## Amigo (Feb 15, 2018)

I’ve no doubt they have a point but I suspect genetics would trump it every time!


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## HOBIE (Feb 15, 2018)

Radders said:


> what do you mean by that term Hobie?


Food that is made up of cr--.  Not real food ! Its cheaper to put some added water & plastic in food.


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## Radders (Feb 15, 2018)

HOBIE said:


> Food that is made up of cr--.  Not real food ! Its cheaper to put some added water & plastic in food.


? I really don’t think they would get away with that.


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## trophywench (Feb 15, 2018)

It's bit of an eye opener watching a Cable TV regular late evening prog 'How it's Made'.  It can be widgets that go in jet engines or Oreo biscuits - anything that's manufactured.

Lots of liquid glucose and maltose and corn syrup as well as the stuff you expect to be there and often makes us say 'Don't think we'll have any of that, then!' or 'Shall we not bother looking for that in Tesco's?'  LOL

For interest with the Oreos, I said 'Just as well I don't like them, then!'

But yeah - you'd have trouble making pastry or any baked goods, Yorkshire pud or whatever - without processing at home!


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## Lisa66 (Feb 15, 2018)

I take it to mean products that you probably only recognise the first 3 or so items on the mega list of ingredients. If the ingredients were put on the front instead of the product name, I wonder how the manufacturers would sell them. "... with a delicious hint of monosodium glutamate and a touch of emulsifiers and glycerol" yum.


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## trophywench (Feb 15, 2018)

You forgot the essential exclusive to manufactured food ingredient Lisa! - aqua!!

Home bakers can't hope to compete can they?  Not when they only have Corporation H2O at their disposal anyway .....


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## Radders (Feb 15, 2018)

Lisa66 said:


> I take it to mean products that you probably only recognise the first 3 or so items on the mega list of ingredients. If the ingredients were put on the front instead of the product name, I wonder how the manufacturers would sell them. "... with a delicious hint of monosodium glutamate and a touch of emulsifiers and glycerol" yum.


But many years ago when I first became veggie I read that the same chemicals in mono sodium glutamate are created when you combine certain key vegetable ingredients: hence why most of my savoury cooking starts with onions, garlic, mushrooms and peppers. They create the savoury flavour which can be missing from some veggie dishes. For example today I had a bowl of carrot soup in a cafe that didn’t have anything like that in it, and it was rather sweet and bland. And mustard can be used as an emulsifier: the word just describes the function rather than the composition of the ingredient. 
What I’m trying to say is that just because something has a long name, doesn’t prove it’s bad for you.


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## Lisa66 (Feb 15, 2018)

Sorry, @Radders I know, was just trying to make a point...it was all I could think of off the top of my head. I guess my point is sometimes there are so many ingredients in these products that could easily be cooked just as quickly with a few fresh ingredients, without the fibre and nutrients zapped out of them already. So many people haven't got a clue what they're actually consuming....whereas it's part of our lives to read labels. I have one friend in particular who used to find it amusing that I read labels, particularly my (non diabetic) children's food when they were smaller. Her attitude was well if shops are allowed to sell it, it must be ok.


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## mikeyB (Feb 16, 2018)

At the end of the day, just being alive causes cancer, if you live long enough. The 20th century was when folk started living long enough in big numbers for some of them to die of cancer, or worry about getting it. Or indeed, surviving, and passing on their genes.

We’re also living long enough to get dementia, which is an acknowledged result of us living longer. 

Diabetic folk are living to pass on their defective genes to their children. That’s why it’s commoner. 

As Amigo says, it’s all genetics.


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## HOBIE (Feb 17, 2018)

Radders said:


> ? I really don’t think they would get away with that.


Horses ? . Some people see ways of making money & bang !


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## Radders (Feb 17, 2018)

HOBIE said:


> Horses ? . Some people see ways of making money & bang !


Wouldn’t you be able to taste it if they were putting plastic on food? A bit different from mixing one animal’s flesh with another I think.


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## HOBIE (Feb 17, 2018)

I don't actually mean plastic. But all kinds of stuff that is fairly horrible. I would rather eat something that I grew in the garden


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## trophywench (Feb 17, 2018)

--- yet it tasted so much better than the normal fare, didn't it?  LOL


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## kentish maid (Feb 17, 2018)

Benny G said:


> Most people don't grow anything in their garden. It's too much like hard work.
> While I have always preferred processed foods, I do like to know what the major ingredient is. So no Soylent Green for me.


I had to google Soylent Green (call me naturally curious, or just plain nosy). Puts me in mind of Under the Skin, film based on Michel Faber book


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## HOBIE (Feb 17, 2018)

Benny G said:


> Most people don't grow anything in their garden. It's too much like hard work.
> While I have always preferred processed foods, I do like to know what the major ingredient is. So no Soylent Green for me.


A bit exercise is good for you. It tastes great if you have grown it yourself


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## trophywench (Feb 18, 2018)

Did you find Charlton Heston when you Googled?  LOL

Hobie - by no means everyone is lucky enough to have a garden in the first place, let alone enough of it to include a veggie patch.


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## mikeyB (Feb 18, 2018)

I won’t have a garden when I move, but that won’t stop me growing herbs. I’ll also be looking for a small lean to greenhouse for tomatoes and chillis on the flat’s balcony.


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