Now it seems that some types of carbohydrates and sugars might also increase a person’s cancer risk; people who regularly consumed sugary drinks were three times more likely to develop prostate cancer, and processed carbohydrates like those found in pizza and hamburgers doubled their risk. Researchers began tracking participants' diets through detailed food frequency questionnaires starting in 1991. Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men. "Our study showed very strong associations between certain foods and cancer, in particular with prostate cancer," Nour Makarem, a doctoral student at New York University and the lead author on the study, said in a press release. Then they compared the participants' food sources to their cancer rates, controlling for a number of factors. Periodically, they gave participants questionnaires about the types of foods they usually ate, then ranked their foods based on whether the carbohydrates were “good” (legumes, non-starchy vegetables, fruit, whole grains) or “bad” (processed meats, sugary soft drinks, fruit juices). Among individual foods, legumes such as beans, lentils and peas were associated with 32 percent lower risk of all overweight- and obesity-related cancers, including breast, prostate and colorectal cancers. One caveat that Makarem noted is that the volunteers involved in the study were 99 percent Caucasian. Makarem will present the findings during the Experimental Biology 2016 meeting on Tuesday, April 5.
– Meat is often the bad guy linked to higher cancer rates: The World Health Organization says bacon is carcinogenic and red meats in general "probably" are, while grilling meats is linked to higher kidney cancer rates. But researchers out of New York University report in ScienceDaily that their latest study suggests it isn't just meat but highly processed "bad" carbohydrates (think sugary soft drinks and pizza) that are linked to higher cancer rates. They've presented their findings at the American Society for Nutrition Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting, noting that the link is strongest to prostate cancer, which is nearly twice as common among men who eat "bad" carbs over "good" ones such as legumes and whole grains. The longitudinal study follows 3,100 volunteers as far back as the 1970s, with participants regularly reporting detailed food questionnaires starting in 1991. All foods were categorized by glycemic index, which measures carbohydrate quality by looking at its impact on blood sugar compared to a reference food, as well as glycemic load, which measures both the quantity and quality of carbs in each item. Controlling for many variables, they compared these results to the participants' cancer rates. And while Popular Science notes that there are some holes in the study, including that 99% of the participants were Caucasian, the study is a "robust" one and will likely be followed up by additional investigations into the precise mechanism at play between carbs and cancers. (Bad carbs have also been linked to depression.)