Posted on 01/30/2009 8:04:04 PM PST by nickcarraway
Children who regularly eat cured meats like bacon and hot dogs may have a heightened risk of leukemia, while vegetables and soy products may help protect against cancer, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that among 515 Taiwanese children and teenagers with and without acute leukemia, those who ate cured meats and fish more than once a week had a 74 percent higher risk of leukemia than those who rarely ate these foods.
On the other hand, kids who often ate vegetables and soy products, like tofu, had about half the leukemia risk of their peers who shunned vegetables and soy.
The findings, reported in the online journal BMC Cancer, point to an association between these foods and leukemia risk - but do not prove cause-and-effect.
Long-term human studies, as well as animal studies, are still needed to see what role, if any, dietary factors have in leukemia development, explained Dr. David C. Christiani of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, one of the researchers of the group.
However, Christiani told Reuters Health, based on this and previous studies, he and his colleagues recommend that children not eat high amounts of cured meats and fish.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Children who regularly eat cured and processed meat may be at a greater risk of leukaemia, a study suggests, but an Australian nutritionist says parents need not panic if their children have been tucking into hot dogs and salami.
Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health surveyed 515 children and teenagers from Taiwan, some of whom had leukaemia, and found that those who ate cured meat or fish regularly were 74 per cent more likely to develop the disease.
Those who ate vegetables and soy-based foods regularly were 50 per cent less likely than their meat-eating counterparts to develop leukaemia.
However, the study, published in the online journal BMC Cancer, did not include a detailed examination of why the foods caused the higher incidence of cancer, and Australian researchers have questioned the findings.
The Cancer Council NSW nutritionist Kathy Chapman said: "It's a very small sample size to be making these kinds of associations between diet and cancer risk.
"Normally when we look at a study like this you would be looking at 20,000 participants.
"Also, the best type of studies are those which follow people up over time rather than asking them what they did in the past. I don't think it's time for parents to be panicking if their kids have been tucking into the hot dogs over the school holidays."
The authors of the study have acknowledged their research is not definitive but recommend that children not eat large amounts of cured meat and fish.
What about those guys in hot dog eating contests? Or, if there were any, bacon eating ones, too?
Good grief...we all grew up on Oscar Mayer baloney & hot dogs, ham, salami, kielbasa, bacon, corned beef and sausages. Half the country would have leukemia if this was true.
Maybe so, but they do sell nitrate-free bacon, and it’s very good. I have a young child and I buy the uncured products, just in case. They’re not that much more expensive.
How in the hell did I ever survive childhood?
I have read many times of the dangers of excessive soy (estrogen) being eaten by growing children.
Early puberty for girls and feminization for boys appears to be the result.
I don’t give my children soy. It’s evil stuff.
I try to avoid cured meats when possible, too, but I am mostly German, and we are fond of our deli meats and wursts.
What’s a large amount? My kids have deli meat sandwiches once a week. Is that a large amount? They also eat lots of fruit and veggies....does this offset anything. And they like soy milk in their cereal.....So where does that leave them?
Infants on soy formula are much more likely to develop diabetes in early adulthood.
Soy oil and flour cause me to have serious flare-ups of my ulcerative colitis.
The problem with soy is that people do not have several stomachs like cows to properly digest soy. Soy sauce is okay because in the process of fermentation the 'evil' part of soy is destroyed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.