cancer – Lacto Bacto

Many Baby and Toddler Foods Are Ultra-Processed

SimaMarch 26, 2026March 27, 2026Leave a comment

Yogurt with ultra-processed ingredients Credit: Wikipedia

There is concern in the United States about the increasing rates of colon cancer in young persons. Currently it is the leading cause of cancer in persons under 50 years. Some possible causes being examined are ultra-processed foods (over 50% of calories eaten daily by Americans), low fiber intake, and microplastics.

This is why the results of a recent study are especially concerning: about 71% of baby and toddler foods sold in the United States are ultra-processed. Snack sized packages and pouches were especially likely to having ultra-processed ingredients, as well as high levels of sugar and sodium (salt).

How to recognize ultra-processed foods? Read ingredient labels and if there is something that normally is not found in a person's kitchen, then it is ultra-processed. [Good book about this topic: Ultra-Processed People]

Examples of ingredients found in ultra-processed foods: emulsifiers, carrageenan, mono- and diglycerides, soy lecithin, polysorbate, cellulose, colors, titanium dioxide, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, dextrose, whey protein, nitrates, artificial flavors, natural flavors, colors, etc. Natural flavors are laboratory concoctions, even if they are "organic".

Excerpts from Food and Wine: Nearly 3 in 4 Packaged Baby-Food Products Sold in the US Are Ultra-Processed, Study Finds

A new study by The George Institute for Global Health found that 71% of baby and toddler foods sold in major U.S. grocery stores are ultra-processed.
Researchers identified more than 100 different additives in these products, with general additives, flavor enhancers, and thickeners among the most common.

...continue reading "Many Baby and Toddler Foods Are Ultra-Processed"

Chemical Exposure Linked to Liver Scarring

SimaMarch 6, 2026March 7, 2026Leave a comment

Not all cleaning products or chemicals used in dry cleaning are safe to use. A recent study found that the chemical tetrachloroethylene (PERC or PCE) can cause serious liver harm in the form of liver fibrosis, and that the effects are dose dependent for liver fibrosis. The more a person is exposed, the greater the risk of developing liver fibrosis.

PERC is a chemical that used to be found in household products, such as spot removers, furniture stripper, adhesive glues, suede protectors, spray-on water repellents, but is being phased out. It is also commonly used in dry cleaning of clothing, and it has 10 years to phase out. It will continue to be used in a number of industrial settings, for example, as a degreaser. Tetrachloroethylene (PERC) is a volatile organic compound (VOC).

Liver fibrosis is the buildup of tough scar tissue in the liver resulting from chronic inflammation and persistent damage. Unfortunately, over time this scarring can progress to liver failure or liver cancer.

Bottom line: Avoid products with PERC. The danger is in inhaling the chemical's fumes or getting it on your skin (contact with the chemical). Nowadays PERC is mainly used in industrial settings (resulting in occupational exposure). It is being phased out in consumer products and dry cleaning because it is a carcinogen (cancer causing).

From Science Daily: Hidden household toxin triples liver disease risk, study finds

Liver disease most often develops due to one of three major causes: excessive alcohol use, the buildup of fat in the liver associated with obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol, or viral infections such as hepatitis B and C.

Researchers from Keck Medicine of USC have identified another potential cause of liver damage. A new study published in Liver International links tetrachloroethylene (PCE), a chemical widely used in dry cleaning and found in household products like adhesive glues, spot removers, and stainless steel polish, to serious liver harm. ...continue reading "Chemical Exposure Linked to Liver Scarring"

Microplastics Found In Higher Levels In Prostate Cancer Tumors

SimaMarch 5, 2026March 6, 2026Leave a comment

Microplastics are turning up everywhere in our environment, including us. A recent small study found microplastics in 90% of human prostate cancer tumors, and at much higher levels than in nearby healthy tissue.

The tumor samples contained about 2.5 times more plastic than nearby healthy prostate tissue. This led the researchers to suggest that microplastic exposure may be a risk factor for prostate cancer. This is because chronic inflammation is considered a risk factor for the development of cancer.

Microplastics are tiny plastic particles (smaller than 5 millimeters) that occur as plastics get worn down, degrade, or get heated. They get into the air, water, soil, and throughout the environment. The particles are so small that after they are inhaled or ingested (in our food and water), they travel to the lungs, blood, and organs. The health effects of plastic particles in our bodies are still mainly unknown, but so far studies are finding oxidative stress and chronic inflammation.

From Science Daily: Microplastics found in 90% of prostate cancer tumors, study reveals

A new study has found tiny plastic particles in nine out of 10 men diagnosed with prostate cancer. Researchers also discovered that these microplastics were present at higher concentrations in cancerous tumors than in nearby noncancerous prostate tissue. ...continue reading "Microplastics Found In Higher Levels In Prostate Cancer Tumors"

Weakening Formaldehyde Regulations Will Harm Us

SimaJanuary 30, 2026January 30, 2026Leave a comment

Satellite image of U.S. Credit: Wikipedia

Many environmental protections are now in the process of being rolled back in the United States, including those for formaldehyde. This is a huge win for the chemical industry (more profits!), and a loss for us. For our health and for the environment.

Formaldehyde is used in many consumer products, such as personal care products, paints, crafting products, particle board, composite wood (e.g., furniture, cabinets), textiles, plastics, furniture foam. The problem is that it out-gasses and we inhale it, which can lead to health harms, such as effects on the skin and respiratory system and several types of cancers. Formaldehyde causes more cancer than any other chemical in the air.

The EPA is now proposing raising levels of formaldehyde that are "safe" for us to be exposed to. It wants to double the allowable threshold levels! The EPA sets standards for chemicals that say that any level of exposure below that threshold is considered safe. Therefore, levels of exposure to formaldehyde that are now considered a cancer risk will not be if the changes are approved.

Why these rollbacks? Chemical industry friendly people are now in charge of the EPA (top staffers are from the chemical industry) and the new focus is on economic development, prioritizing business interests, and not protecting human health and the environment. Of course research scientists and research are being thrown out.

Excerpts from The Guardian: Trump’s EPA wants to weaken formaldehyde protections – this is what it could mean

Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to increase the levels of exposure to highly carcinogenic formaldehyde it considers safe. If successful, people would continue to be exposed to concerning amounts of the toxin in thousands of everyday products used across the economy, experts and advocates say. ...continue reading "Weakening Formaldehyde Regulations Will Harm Us"

Some Food Preservatives Are Linked To Cancer

SimaJanuary 17, 2026January 17, 2026Leave a comment

Processed meat contains preservatives. Credit: Wikipedia

Once again, preservatives found in ultra-processed foods are linked to health harms. A large study of 105,260 French adults found that higher intakes of some common food additives or preservatives are linked to certain cancers.

There was an association of higher intake of seven preservatives with a higher risk of overall cancer, and also with breast and prostate cancer. On the other hand, there was no link between overall preservatives and cancer - just with the 7 preservatives.

The researchers looked at the overall cancer rate, as well as the most common 17 preservatives, and found certain associations: potassium sorbate with overall cancer and breast cancer, potassium metabisulfite with overall cancer and breast cancer, sodium nitrite with prostate cancer, potassium nitrate with overall cancer and breast cancer, acetates with overall cancer and breast cancer, acetic acid with overall cancer, and sodium erythorbate with overall cancer and breast cancer.

Bottom line: Read ingredient lists on food labels. Avoid foods that contain ingredients with chemical sounding names that are not normally found in a home kitchen. Those ingredients are in ultra-processed foods. Additionally, "natural flavors" are laboratory concoctions (found in ultra-processed foods).

From The Guardian: Studies link some food preservatives to higher diabetes and cancer risk

Higher consumption of some food preservatives is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cancer, two studies suggest.

The findings, published in the medical journals Nature Communications and the BMJ, may have important public health implications given the ubiquitous use of these additives globally, researchers said. ...continue reading "Some Food Preservatives Are Linked To Cancer"

Pesticides and Breast Cancer

SimaDecember 13, 2025December 14, 2025Leave a comment

Normal (left) vs cancerous breast (right), mammography image
Credit: National Cancer Institute

Many studies link pesticide exposure to the development of various cancers, including breast cancer. We tend to think of pesticide exposure as occurring when there is direct contact with the pesticide - for example during application, or when walking on lawns or areas with freshly applied pesticides. Yet... there are other routes that have been neglected in studies, such as washing pesticide contaminated clothes.

At a recent webinar (42nd National Forum Series - The Pesticide Threat to Environmental Health), Carolina Panis, PhD, (Ass. Professor of Medicine at Western Paraná State University in Brazil, and Visiting Researcher at Harvard University and the University of Arizona) spoke about pesticide exposure in women and breast cancer. She discussed her recent research showing that women occupationally exposed to pesticides (e.g., as farm workers) and diagnosed with breast cancer seem to have more aggressive disease, also at younger ages, than unexposed women. An increased mortality rate went along with this.

She also discussed an interesting finding regarding women living in farm areas (with heavy pesticide use) in Brazil. Not only is occupational exposure to pesticides linked to breast cancer, but additionally - women having chronic (daily) exposure are also exposed to pesticide residues when washing clothing used by someone who had applied pesticides. Laundry exposure! Women absorb pesticide residues (e.g., glyphosate, atrazine) from the pesticide contaminated clothing, which increases the amount of pesticides in their bodies and this is also linked to breast cancer.

The women she looked at lived in farming areas, and additionally many had their residences frequently sprayed for insects. Ultimately, women exposed to high levels of pesticides tend to develop metastatic untreatable breast cancer, and at a younger age (unlike other areas where breast cancer is highly treatable). She pointed out that pesticides also have a negative effect on the immune system.

From the article by C. Pannis and B. Lemos: Pesticide Exposure and Increased Breast Cancer Risk In Women Population Studies

Women in rural regions are at risk for exposure to pesticides by equipment decontamination, unprotected clothes washing, pesticide drift, chemical spraying in the field, and other routes of exposure in the household. Pesticides can act on mammary gland cells in direct and indirect ways, augmenting the risk for breast cancer development. ...continue reading "Pesticides and Breast Cancer"

Pesticides and Pediatric Cancers

SimaDecember 12, 2025December 14, 2025Leave a comment

Cancer is feared by all. It seems to strike randomly, but not always. Certain cancers that occur in both children and adults, such as brain cancer and leukemia, are linked with some commonly used pesticides. Exposures to these pesticides occur many ways - whether from nearby farm use, or in foods or the water we drink, or air (pesticide drift), or residential use (e.g., the weed killer 2,4-D on lawns). Exposure is typically not to just 1 harmful chemical, but to mixtures of pesticides, especially on farms.

Children are especially vulnerable to pesticides. Research shows that there is an increase in some cancers in children in farm areas (e.g., Nebraska and the US midwest) where pesticides are heavily used. A recent study by Dr. Taiba and colleagues found that in Nebraskan counties with heavy farm pesticide use (especially Holt county) children living there had an increase not just in "overall pediatric cancers", but in specific types of cancers. These cancers included brain and other central nervous system tumors, leukemia, and lymphoma.

Keep in mind that in the US millions of pounds of pesticides are used each year, with farm areas having the heaviest use. Dr. Taiba reported that the US is the #1 country in the world in pesticide use. Among the most heavily used in the Nebraskan farms are atrazine, 2,4-D, glyphosate, dicamba, paraquat.

But don't ignore residential use of pesticides. Many of the same pesticides, such as glyphosate and 2,4-D, are commonly used in residential areas, especially for weed and insect control. Feed and Weed, which is used on lawns for weed control, contains 2,4-D. Pesticides have harmful effects on humans, and yet pesticide use is increasing annually.

From Beyond Pesticides: Dire Pediatric Cancer Risk Linked to Pesticide Mixtures, Laws To Protect Children Found To Be Lax

Childhood cancers are on the rise globally; in the U.S. cancer is the second most common cause of death in children between one and 14 years old, and the fourth most common in adolescents. A recent study of Nebraska pesticide use and pediatric cancer incidence by researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Idaho Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences found positive associations between pesticides and overall cancer, brain and central nervous system cancers, and leukemia among children (defined as under age 20). ...continue reading "Pesticides and Pediatric Cancers"

Male Sperm Counts Continue to Decline

SimaDecember 11, 2025December 14, 2025Leave a comment

When looking at the research, it is striking that so many chemicals that we are exposed to daily are harming us. Health harms include an increase in certain cancers (e.g., brain cancer and leukemia from certain pesticides) and reproductive effects. This can be seen clearly when research shows that sperm counts are declining globally 2.64% per year since 2000.

A recent report from HEAL (Health and Environmental Alliance in the European Union) found that along with this, infertility rates, testicular cancer, and prostate cancer are increasing. This is alarming!

HEAL’s report (author Dr. Cannarella) details alarming indications of catastrophe in male reproductive health: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, crashing sperm counts, infertility, and numerous developmental problems including cryptorchidism, urogenital malformations, and hypospadias. The report highlights pesticides, microplastics, phthalates, bisphenols, PFAS and heavy metals as the likely environmental sources of the crisis. There is evidence that all of these endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) adversely affect male reproductive function.

Excerpts from the latest research on the drop in sperm counts globally and declines in male reproductive health, the science report from HEAL: Chemical pollution and men’s health: A hidden crisis in Europe

A 2023 meta-analysis by Levine et al. showed that global sperm counts declined by 52% between 1973 and 2018. European countries showed similar or even steeper declines, especially in Western and Southern Europe. ...continue reading "Male Sperm Counts Continue to Decline"

The Foods You Eat and Their Link to Constipation

SimaNovember 26, 2025November 27, 2025Leave a comment

For years it has been known that increasing the amount of fiber (and drinking enough fluids) in a person's diet helps to prevent constipation. A recent large multi-year study of 96,000 adults confirmed this: Mediterranean and plant-based diets prevented constipation, and Western and inflammatory diets (low fiber, high ultra-processed foods) raised constipation risk.

Vegetables, cruciferous vegetables (e.g., broccoli), legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas), and fruits were all associated with reduced risks for constipation. High vegetable and nut consumption was especially good for preventing constipation. Additionally, a low carbohydrate diet showed a slight increased risk for constipation. Eating a diet rich in cereal fibers (e.g., white bread, low fiber breakfast cereals) and ultra-processed foods was linked to constipation.

Besides reducing constipation, many studies show that eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seeds, nuts, legumes, such as the Mediterranean diet, is protective for cardiometabolic diseases (e.g., heart disease, heart attack, strokes, kidney disease, and type 2 diabetes), cancer, and even early death. This type of diet is high in fiber, has positive effects on the gut microbiome, and reduces chronic inflammation.

From Science Daily: What 96,000 adults taught scientists about preventing constipation

Chronic constipation becomes more common with age. Researchers from Mass General Brigham conducted a new study examining whether five widely followed diets could help prevent chronic constipation in middle- and older-age adults. The team monitored more than 96,000 participants for several years to see how long-term eating habits influenced the likelihood of developing this persistent gastrointestinal issue. Their analysis showed that people who routinely ate a Mediterranean or plant-based diet experienced a lower incidence of constipation. The findings appear in Gastroenterology. ...continue reading "The Foods You Eat and Their Link to Constipation"

Ultra-Processed Foods and Colon Polyps

SimaNovember 21, 2025November 21, 2025Leave a comment

Ultra-processed foods are linked to many health harms, including heart disease and type 2 diabetes. A recent large study of women found that they are also linked to colon adenomas (polyps) - which are precursors to colorectal cancer. The more ultra-processed foods in the diet, the higher the risk of polyps (adenomas).

There was a 45% greater risk of polyps in the group eating the most ultra-processed foods (about 10 servings per day), when compared to those eating the fewest ultra-processed foods (about 3 servings per day).

The researchers point out that the rise in the rates of colorectal cancer has occurred with the rise of ultra-processed food consumption. Currently, more than 50% of the diet of Americans consists of ultra-processed foods.

Other researchers suggest that there may be other contributing factors to the rise in colorectal cancer, such as low fiber in the diet (typical Western diet), and microplastics in the environment, which are found in our food, water, and beverages.

Bottom line: Eat a diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes. This will increase the amount of fiber in your diet, and lower your intake of ultra-processed foods. Read ingredient labels and if there is something that normally is not found in a person's kitchen, then it is ultra-processed.

From Medical Xpress: Ultra-processed foods tied to higher rates of early-onset colorectal cancer precursors in adults

Colorectal cancer used to be associated with old age, but diagnoses have become increasingly common in adults aged 50 or younger particularly in high-income countries like the United States. The reason for this trend is unclear, but a new study led by Mass General Brigham researchers, as part of the Cancer Grand Challenges PROSPECT team, suggests an important link to ultra-processed foods that merits closer investigation. ...continue reading "Ultra-Processed Foods and Colon Polyps"