Does choosing organic over conventional food protect against cancer? What is the effect of pesticides on cancer risk?
In review update evidence on human exposure and pesticide toxicity, the body of evidence on pesticide exposure and cancer is so overwhelming that the role of pesticides in cancer development is “indisputable.” However, most of its evidence shows DNA damage from pesticides can come from occupational exposure among farmers and field workers, the pesticide industry itself, or those who live in areas of spraying, as you can see at 0:35 in my video Pesticides and Cancer Risk.
There is evidence connect the effects of non-occupational pesticides on DNA damage – in this case, single- and double-stranded DNA fragments in the sperm of men with high levels of pesticides flowing through their bodies, but this was in China, where the average concentration of pesticides is four times higher than in some other parts of the world.
Another way of pesticides may be possible to facilitate Tumor growth is caused by a negative effect on anti-cancer immunity. Natural killer (NK) cells are our body’s first line of defense against cancer cells and virus-infected cells. Pesticides have been shown to have a detrimental effect on these protective cells, reducing their ability to destroy tumor cells. For example, if you put a bunch of NK cells in a petri dish together with human leukemia cells without any pesticides, your natural killer cells can clean house and kill more than half of your cancer. But if you spray them with some pesticide, the NK cells become so inactive that the cancer will one day win, as you can see below and at 1:37 in my video.
But how many pesticides are we talking about? Researchers is used the maximum level in people who actively spray. But about what looking only residual pesticides left in conventional produce? Is choosing organic to prevent cancer worth it?
Pesticides are detected in the blood and urine of more than 90% of the US population, regardless of where they work or live. We know it comes from the food we eat, because crossover trials in which people alternate between eating conventionally grown foods and organic foods show that you can turn the concentration of pesticide metabolites in your urine on and off like switching on and off a light. But this does not mean that pesticides are harmful to us.
The health consequences of eating pesticide residues from conventional foods remain unclear, but a recent study found that people who self-reported eating organic food had about a 25% lower risk of developing cancer. Learning is the first of its kind rate it the relationship between the frequency of organic food consumption and the risk of cancer, controlling for a number of other factors. Isn’t it important that consumers who eat organic are younger? The researchers controlled for this and still found a significant reduction in cancer risk. But maybe organic consumers get less cancer because they’re richer or more educated or fairer, or maybe they exercise more or eat less meat or smoke less. No, the researchers controlled for all of this and still found a significant reduction in cancer risk in organic consumers. Maybe their diet differed in other ways – more fruits and vegetables in general or less food? No, they still significantly reduced the risk of cancer. The researchers concluded, “Our results suggest that a higher consumption of organic food is associated with a lower risk of overall cancer.”
It was the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, but there have been previous studies that were even larger and with less evidence found to reduce the incidence of all cancers except one type of blood cancer – non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. You can see the information below and at 3:59 in me video.
Information to show the overall cancer difference between those who never choose organic and those who usually or always do so; The only significant findings were a lower risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and an increased risk of breast cancer. Could it be that women who choose an organic diet are more careful about breast cancer screening and this explains the higher detection rate? We really don’t know.
Of course, what we are most concerned about is not just cancer, but all-cause mortality—the risk of premature death. As it turns out, high blood levels of a pesticide called beta-hexachlorocyclohexane related to live with a much shorter life. How do we reduce our rate? There was a study decades ago that found that the milk of a vegetarian mother has less beta-hexachlorocyclohexane than the milk of a non-vegetarian sister, who was also breastfeeding at the time. Apparently, the vegetarian sister had levels of these pesticides that were about a third lower than her omnivorous sister, as you can see below and at 4:48 in my video.
This is not surprising, since this class of chlorinated pesticides is fat-soluble, so they found mostly in foods of animal origin.
The latest study did not look at beta-hexachlorocyclohexane, but it did look at polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and found that they were associated with an increased risk of death. Again, the toxins were found in the same types of foods: eggs, dairy products, and animal fats. So, it is not surprising that the blood of those who eat vegetarian found in terms of a range of PCBs, including those linked to increased mortality in studies, “to be significantly less contaminated than omnivores”; however, vegans did not have low levels of beta-hexachlorocyclohexane.
Conclusion: If you are concerned about the negative health effects of pesticides and pesticide-type compounds, you can reduce your consumption of animal products. But when it comes to fruits and vegetables, benefits to eat Conventionally grown produce probably outweighs any potential risks of pesticide exposure. So, concerns about the dangers of pesticides shouldn’t stop us from stuffing our faces with as many fruits and vegetables as possible. This gives us great health benefits, while the potential harm of any pesticides to the same fruits and vegetables. is assumed On average, only a few minutes are cut off a person’s life, which is nothing compared to the nutritional benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables.
Dr.’s comment
For more information on organic foods, see the related articles below.
