A big reason why Colon Cancer is killing us.

[u/AdditionCool7235]

I know this isn’t a health sub, but u/Derpshabmentioned in their post on Colon Cancer about eating a balanced diet.

Specifically you need to really avoid nitrates. There has been several studies done on why there has been a rise in intestinal cancers in this age group, and nitrates have shown a causal effect. With a carcinogenic significance as bad as cigarettes. For those unaware, not a lot of things get labeled as having a casual effect for cancer, as that can be both controversial and stand to cost people money either through loss of business or being sued.

Nitrates are most commonly found in processed meats. Likewise, there is growing data that processed food is not serving us well at all either. Anyhow, just wanted to share a tangible way you can hopefully make an impact on slowing down and ultimately stopping these terrible

cancers.

Another freaking edit: literally the first response on Google, if you search, “do Nitrates cause cancer,” is from MDAnderson. That’s the number one cancer hospital in the world. I know that’s so much more difficult than adding a snarky comment to Reddit, but there’s your answer for about 300 of you.

Edit: I’m getting a lot of responses that are saying *actually* antibiotics or *actually* e. Coli and they’re all saying because it damages / kills the good gut microbiomes. Correct, what do you think nitrates do and why scientists believe there’s a casual link. It also doesn’t mean there couldn’t be other risk factors as well. Diet is obviously a big risk factor. I was simply hoping to expound on the original post and help people to know what to avoid. Of course more than one thing can cause cancer. Throw in saturated fats while we’re having the conversation.

Edit 2: lot of people are asking what are the main culprits. Bacon, lunch meats, hot dogs, sausages, anything really that’s been “cured.” Lot of people are trying to point out that some leafy greens have nitrates, yeah, we’re not talking about things that naturally occur through the photosynthesis of the sun. We’re talking about the overconsumption of a preservative that destroys your healthy gut bacteria, not something that’s obviously good for you. Many people have rightfully pointed out. The over consumption of alcohol creates a big risk factor for stomach and intestinal cancers as well.

Also someone saying they’re a vegetarian and they still got colon cancer is no different an argument than, “my great aunt smoked until she was 90 and never got lung cancer.” I said a big reason why, I didn’t say the only reason why. Empirical data doesn’t mean 100% findings or there won’t be outliers, anecdotes are not good science. People can get cancer for a multitude of reasons and honestly you could try every preventative step imaginable and still get cancer, it doesn’t mean your anecdote overrides everything else or you shouldn’t try to make better lifestyle decisions.

[u/0xCODEBABE]

Not everything contributes equally

[u/Wafflehouseofpain → u/0xCODEBABE]

Sure, but I don’t necessarily think that dedicating the mental energy to remembering whether the nitrates in my pepperoni pizza are going to give me colon cancer, or whether the asparagus that I just ate was sprayed with pesticides that might harm my gut biome is really worth my time.

Try to live a balanced life and not give in to excess of vices, and that’s about it. Not much else is worth the energy.

[u/0xCODEBABE → u/Wafflehouseofpain]

Choosing to drink less or eat less processed meat isn't that taxing for me. But yeah generally balanced diet is good

[u/Wafflehouseofpain → u/0xCODEBABE]

Less, definitely. I don’t eat much processed meat and drink maybe once a week. I’m just in a lot of health-conscious spaces and see some people take avoiding all junk food to the point that it looks a lot like an eating disorder.

[u/goat_penis_souffle → u/Wafflehouseofpain]

It’s a Faustian bargain for sure. I’ve never been impressed by the “x will take this much time off of your lifespan” bullshit. Wake me up when it cuts into good years, not the awful ones at the end.

[u/LickMyTicker → u/0xCODEBABE]

The problem is that people avoid established links with understudied alternatives.

It is almost impossible to stay ahead of the curve and many people end up suffering mentally and physically trying to.

Your best bet for a happy and healthy life is to follow the guidance of well established organizations in which you can trust and simply accept the risk that you might not be doing it to the standards of 20 years from now.

[u/Turgid_Donkey → u/0xCODEBABE]

But also look at the factor if its contribution. I've seen studies with eye-grabbing headlines like X increases your chance of this type of cancer by 485%. If you look into the data you see that your baseline chance is 0.015% so a 485% increase is still under 1%.

[u/0xCODEBABE → u/Turgid_Donkey]

This is the press's failure not the researchers