by Debra Macapagal

Created on: December 25, 2008

How are our eating habits connected to cancer rates?

The eating habits of humans today have a tremendous impact on our health and can be connected to higher and lower cancer rates.

The purpose of food is to give our bodies energy to sustain its self for our daily activities. Our bodies have many different systems that require certain elements in order to function properly. When we deprive our bodies of these essential requirements our systems begin to deteriorate. When systems such as our immune system are not working properly disease can easily take over.

Dr. David Servan-Schreiber the author of Anti Cancer: A New Way Of Life, discusses in his book the steps he took to battle his cancer, by changing to a healthier diet, including more exercise and reducing stress. He mentions that we all have cancer cells that lay dormant and these cells are more likely to be activated in someone that has an unhealthy lifestyle compared to someone who is healthy.

Foods most likely to contribute to higher cancer rates, are processed foods, fast foods, meat from factory farms and produce containing pesticides.

Processed foods contain chemicals such as Nitrosamines which is used to cure meats. This chemical has known carcinogenic properties.

In Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation he examines the impact fast foods have on childhood obesity and cancer rates worldwide. In 1971 McDonald's made its first appearance in Japan. Only 3 decades later "1/3 of all Japanese men in their 30s - members of the nation's first generation raised on Happy Meals and "Bi-gu Ma-kus" - are overweight".

The same factors that contribute to obesity from fast foods are also known to increase the risk of other diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

According to the Stanford Cancer Centre website "there is also evidence that total fat intake of greater than 30 percent of total calories can increase the risk of developing some cancers."

Meat and milk products from intensive factory farms are laced with products such as Bovine Growth Hormone (BGH), and antibiotics. BGH is used to increase the amount of milk the cow produces. Too often, they are forced to produce more milk than is healthy, causing their immune systems to become compromised and require antibiotics.

BGH has been linked to cancers such as breast, colon and prostate cancer. Our over exposure to antibiotic in the meat we eat, can also inhibit our body from naturally fighting off disease. BGH has been banned in Canada and Europe because of

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