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Showing posts with label American Cancer Society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Cancer Society. Show all posts

Monday, October 25, 2010

Can You Really Get Cancer From Eating Potato Chips?


Cancer is all around us, and no matter where we go there is a threat of getting cancer. People can try to change their odds of escaping this deadly disease, but the sad truth is that most of the things we do in our everyday life are cancer causing. According to Mayo Clinic's seven tips to reduce your risks, the only way to lessen the chances is to exercise, eat healthy, go to the doctor regularly, and stay away from high risk areas (such as power plants). Doctors are not expecting people to follow the rules all the time, they are just warning people not to live their daily life that way. The anti-cancer diet consists of all natural fruits and vegetables. People are not going to follow this diet on a everyday basis. Therefore these diets and advice from doctors are more like guidelines to staying healthy. So can you really get cancer from eating potato chips? The answer is hard to determine, but if you stay healthy there is nothing for you to worry about.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Can You Really Get Cancer From Eating Potato Chips?


Exactly, doctors are trying to scare people into taking percussions of almost everything. If we live the life that will "prevent" cancer, then would we be living a life at all? According to the article "How to Live Life to the Max with Beginners Mind," there are steps to living a full life. One of these steps is to "discard failure." This to me means not to have the fear of death or illness. Life of fear is not a life that anyone wants to live. There is a difference in being healthy and being scared of all the things that cause cancer. In a blog that gave tips on how to avoid cancer, the list of things to eat and not to eat limits your diet to just about nothing. You are right when you say "the things we are suppose to give up for prevention of cancer are not only boring, but ridiculous." Be healthy and you will live a long and healthy life and actually live it.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Skittles A Rainbow of Colors or A Rainbow of Harm?


In an ideal world, parents would read these cautionary tales and rise up and take control of what their kids eat by changing their shopping habits and meal choices. Instead in reality, no wide action is taken to prevent the harms they are causing their kids by the foods they let them consume day after day. Perhaps we should start the trend in schools. In Massachusetts, a bill banning the sale of junk food and drinks at school raises issues about the school role in educating children and their parents and “foster a healthier learning environment for students.” (Support grows for limiting junk food in Mass. Schools) This bill “[gained] momentum in the Legislature” proving that others are seeing the need in school involvement and health choices. If we are asking schools to regulate junk food and soft drinks why not ask them to ban artificial dyes as well?
100 years ago parents didn’t realize the risk that cigarettes posed but when the evidence mounted they kept them away from their children. Until 50 years ago we never worried about car seats to protect our children in the automobile now not only are they standard but it is the law that parents protect their precious cargo with child safety restraints. Now that we are discovering the affect of these dyes what is keeping us from acting swiftly to ensure the health of our children? Parents, schools, and manufacturers should work together to give our children the best possible future. Sure they deserve a snack occasionally but do those snacks have to be laced with harmful substances? Give them their Skittles—just keep the chemicals.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Skittles A Rainbow of Colors or A Rainbow of Harm?

An article published on June 30, 2010 on newsinferno.com stated that in 2008, CSPI (The Center for Science in the Public Interest) pleaded with the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to ban the artificial food dyes. Along with pleading the group also provided studies of the harms of these dyes based on experiments on various dyes with rats as the subjects. Although there’s no conclusive evidence there are plenty of questions about the dangers still unanswered. Shouldn’t we be safe rather than sorry?
In a recent article Artificial Food Dyes Linked to Dangerous Health Risks, it states that the “CSPI does acknowledge that the FDA has put regulations in place that mandate stricter standard of safety for color additives, saying that there must be ‘convincing evidence that establishes with reasonable certainty that no harm will result from the intended use of the color additive.’” They also state in this article “that studies conducted on food dyes have been of poor quality, and that more controlled studies need to be performed to ensure safety.” CSPI Executive Director and study co-author Michael F. Jacobson, PhD, agrees that this is true in Group Calls for Ban on Artificial Food Dyes. Jacobson also believes that that is hardly the problem. “The FDA has not looked at the safety of food dyes in 15 or 20 years…To accept widely used dyes that have these bound carcinogens is shameful.” states Jacobson later in the article. Like Jacobson, many of us believe that more should be done. A FDA spokesperson stated that “[They] appreciate the report from the CSPI and look forward to reviewing it. [They] take [their] commitment to protecting children seriously.” The FDA said this over three months ago, what has been done since? Doesn’t seem like anything to me.
To improve the health of everyone who eats these brightly colored foods there are fortunately many substitutes that manufacturers could and should use instead. Many natural colorings are available such as beet juice, beta-carotene, blueberry juice concentrate, carrot juice and many others and all “provide a vivid spectrum of colors” states CSPI Says Food Dyes Pose Rainbow of Risk. Since we obviously can’t rely on the manufacturers to take this step in making our country healthier we, citizens, parents, grandparents, can take our own steps to making ourselves and children healthier. Instead of soft drinks and fruit drinks a 100 percent fruit juice can be substituted. Cakes and cookies made from scratch can be used instead of box mixes because they contain red and yellow coloring. Cheerios and other naturally colored cereal s are better than Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms. Taking the responsibility to make changes in our foods and what we take into our body can lead to a healthier and longer life.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Skittles A Rainbow of Colors or A Rainbow of Harm?

When I was little foods and candies with bright colors enticed me because they were so pretty and they looked so yummy. Sour Neon Worms, Fruit Loops, and Push-Ups --I just couldn't get enough! Well now brightly colored foods do stick out to me but in a totally different way. When I look at them these days I'm not thinking, "Oh yummy, " Im thinking "DANGER DANGER DANGER!" As an 18 year old I am aware of teh many risks of teh food dyes used in these foods and canndies. It is ridiculous that the food industries are still able to use these dangerous colors in our food, especially the foods that are marketed to our children.
Artificial food dyes used in the manufacturing of colorful foods such as Skittles and Fruity Pebbles, pose extreme health risks and many groups are demanding that they be banned in the United States as they are in many countries all over the world such as Britain. James Huff, associate director for chemical carcinogens at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences' National Toxicology Program, states that the dyes are "unnecessary to humans, especially young children." The Center for Science in the Public Interest states that the dyes "can cause allergic reactions, hyperactivity, and even cancer." Three widely used dyes, Red 40, Yellow 5, adn Yellow 6 are all contaminated with known carcinogens. Red 3, a less commonly used dye, has been acknowledged for years by the FDA to be a carcinogen and "has clearly been shown to induce cancer, " yet 200,000 pounds of it is still used inour food supplyevery year.
Parents, schools, and even grandmas are killing the precious youth of America. Why? Because our government refuses to acknowledge the risk posed by the artificial dyes. Do we just not love our children as the British do? Why do we allow manufacturers to endanger our future for the sake of brighter and flashier food? Are we really that shallow?

Can You Really Get Cancer From Eating Potato Chips?


The cause of cancer is defined by The American Cancer Society as “a complex group of diseases with many possible causes.” Today, many people are being told that cancer is caused from all the things around you. The little things that you do not think of are the things that are putting you into the most harm. Things such as bottles of water, microwaves, cell phones and potato chips have all been accused of causing different kinds of cancers. News articles have reported that cancer can be caused from anything from genetics to just simply walking down the street. Does this mean that everyone will die from cancer?

Things such as tobacco and radiation are commonly heard for causing cancer. But once giving cancer a closer look, I found that there are so many more things that are said to cause cancer. These items are ones that people on a daily basis would not give a second thought to causing cancer. They consist of using a cell phone, getting hit repeatedly, and dieting. Dieting is the one that people will be the most surprised about. In "The complete list of things that give you cancer," a article by epidemiologists, gum, alcohol, Chinese food, hamburgers, coffee, cokes, bread, baby food, and potato chips are just some of the things within a persons diet that could result in cancer. According to the epidemiologists, scientists that study "the patterns of health and illness in population groups, societies, and cultures", the everyday things that we eat are resulting in cancer .

The death rate of cancer had an all time high in the 1990's. As doctors and scientists have researched and discovered the causes and effects of cancer, the death rates have dropped significantly. This year alone the death rates have dropped twenty-one percent for men and twelve percent for women (American Cancer Society_ Facts and Figures). Scientists have tested items to see their effects on people and find out if they give off any rays that can cause cancer. But can they really know if all these everyday things can cause cancer? Even the American Cancer Society says cancer has many causes. Can the doctors really pinpoint the exact thing in a persons life or diet that caused them to get cancer?

According to The Big Site of Amazing Facts, throughout a year a person consumes five hundred and twenty-five pounds of food. This means about three hundred and sixty thousand pounds are consumed by the time we are seventy. Although cancer attacks people of all ages, the risk of getting cancer increases with age. That means many are consuming hundreds of thousands of food before their diagnosis. Without accurate documentation of all the food consumed through that persons lifetime up to that point, how can the scientists pinpoint the exact part of the diet that caused the cancer?

Although things within dieting can contribute to getting cancer, it is very unlikely for the doctors to say what in your diet caused your particular cancer. Things such as potato chips can give you high cholesterol and that can contribute to heart disease, including heart cancer, but potato chips may not be the only contributing factor. Eating right can help your overall health and keep your immune system high and prevent you from getting sick. The doctors and scientists are really informing people to stay healthy to prevent illness, not to inform them that the things they eat are actually causing cancer.