Eating organic food prevents cancer? New study offers more confusion than clarity

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Image: Lee-Anne Armitage Acupuncture

The JAMA [Journal of the American Medical Association] Internal Medicine journal has a report …. on the relationship between organic food consumption and subsequent cancers [in French consumers] …. The limitations of such studies are well-known, surveys, recall issues, reporting your diet in a more flattering light. We also know that those individuals deliberately seeking organic foods are more [likely to] exercise and [avoid] smoking – both true in this study

[Editor’s note: For a detailed report on the study, please see this article and a separate report on the study and understanding chemical risk by the GLP’s Jon Entine, here.]

From the discussion [section of the study]:

“When considering different subgroups, the results herein were no longer statistically significant in younger adults, men, participants with only a high school diploma and with no family history of cancer, never smokers and current smokers, and participants with a high overall dietary quality, while the strongest association was observed among obese individuals ….

That would mean …. the reduction in cancer risk from eating organic is only in women, with a family history of cancer, who are former smokers and who did not necessarily eat high-quality foods …. How could eating a less than healthy diet reduce a health risk? The researchers respond, “One hypothesis may be that higher intake of pesticide-contaminated products may partly counterbalance the beneficial role of high-quality foods…” Those must be amazing foods.

So …. Another observational study …. that proudly proclaims a more general truth than is substantiated in their paper’s evidence …. In the meantime, another paper from a “high impact” journal that contributes more shade than sunlight.

Read full, original article: The French Chime In On Organic Food And Health

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