Smoking and meat - one of the reasons for the development of oncological diseases
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Cancer incidence rates in 2008, which were collected by WHO, indicate that a person's lifestyle, especially smoking, eating a large amount of food of animal origin, is directly related to the development of cancer. In consideration 21 types of cancer tumors were taken in 157 different countries. Between the change in diet and the maximum incidence rate was about 20 years. Fish, meat, eggs are those products that have fallen into the index of products of animal origin, and for factors of lung cancer, factors such as contaminated air and smoking have been used.
As it turned out, more than 50% of cancer cases were associated with smoking and eating animal food. Some of the development of oncological diseases was associated with excessive use of alcohol. For men, a stronger factor provoking cancer tumors was smoking, and for women - food. The woman's diet is directly related to the development of breast cancer, because animal products can contribute to the development of malignant tumors of the breast, ovaries, as well as the prostate, thyroid and pancreas.
Animal food can provoke the development of cancer, because excessive use of such products activates the growth of cells in the body, both normal and pathological, since proteins contribute to the production of insulin-like growth factor. Specialists used the population of Japan as an example and noted that a few decades ago, 10% of calories were food of animal origin, whereas now this figure has increased to 20%, which, according to scientists, is associated with an increase in the incidence of cancer in the country in the last 30 years. Now in Japan there are quite fast rates of development of oncological diseases, previously affecting mainly the inhabitants of Western countries. Also, alcohol is an equally dangerous factor in the development of oncological tumors, specialists associate it with the development of cancers in the intestines, and all kinds of drinks with sweeteners contain prostate, brain and pancreatic cancer.
Such a study indicates a direct link between the risk of developing cancer and eating a large amount of meat. The president of the committee of doctors, Neil Barnard believes that countries need to review the policy of national nutrition. It is necessary to bring to the consciousness of people that in food one must predominantly consume vegetable food and, if possible, reduce animal food in their diet.
Recently, studies conducted by scientists have shown that a diet with a high content of tomatoes is very useful for women's health, because the content of large amounts of lycopene in tomatoes reduces the risk of developing breast cancer. However, British experts are rather skeptical about this study, since lycopene is found in a large number of products, and it is a mistake to associate the use of only tomatoes with a reduction in the risk of developing breast cancer.