Parents are being advised against putting ham sandwiches into children's lunchboxes

Parents are being advised against putting ham sandwiches into children's lunchboxes in this BBC report. Other cured, salted, smoked and processed meats are also advised against. The reason given (by the World Cancer Research Fund) is that these meats increase the risk of bowel cancer in later life.

I agree with the WCRF that these meats are not good for children. Salty food, in particular, is not good for children. As well as increasing the risk of bowel cancer (and most other cancers too) it is the cause of child obesity. Unfortunately the Food Standards Agency says it is OK to give children cured, salted, smoked and processed meats occasionally. - Well it's not OK - not if you want your children to be as healthy as possible, and also to avoid becoming overweight.

Salt, of course, could properly be regarded as a carcinogen.

Children and Obesity

Associated health conditions

FAT RETENTION

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver damage and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better! See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk

The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

Vulnerable groups

And see Sodium in foods

Caution is advised with regard to folic acid supplementation

Can folic acid cause cancer?
Article in the Telegraph:

Extract:

"Folic acid is the synthetic form of a naturally occurring B vitamin, folate. Women who have good levels of folate in their diet, or take folic acid supplements, are far less likely to have babies affected by the birth defect spina bifida. America and Canada started adding folic acid to flour in 1998 and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK has called for a similar fortification here. But recent research has linked high folic acid consumption with an increased risk of bowel cancer; the modest-sounding annual increase of one per cent could, in fact, amount to an extra 3,000 cases per year in the UK. Other evidence points to an increased risk of breast or prostate cancers."

""People with a high intake end up with unmetabolised folic acid floating in their bloodstream," says Dr Siân Astley of the Institute for Food Research in Norwich. "We don't really know what its consequences might be."

The recommended daily intake for folate is 200 micrograms (mcg), and most multivitamins contain this amount of folic acid. But it is also added to breakfast cereals, snack bars and some margarines. Official government advice puts the safe upper limit for folic acid at 1,000mcg per day, but the leading vitamin B expert, Prof David Smith of Oxford University, thinks there is now sufficient evidence to cut that down to 500mcg in general and 400mcg for cancer survivors.

"If you eat a lot of fortified cereals, you may want to rethink your daily multivitamin. Or you could stick with the vitamin pill and switch to wholegrains without added synthetic vitamins, such as porridge or muesli," says Dr Astley. "Fortification is an overly broad approach that increases everyone's folic acid intake, instead of targeting those who need it."

Cutting down on salt/sodium intake lowers the risk of most cancers.

Sausages, bacon, ham and other processed meats increase the risk of developing bowel cancer.

Sausage a day can increase bowel cancer risk

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Eating one sausage or three rashers of bacon a day can increase the risk of bowel cancer by a fifth, a medical expert has said.

The warning involved only 1.8oz (50g) of processed meat daily.

Researchers found that almost half of cancers could be prevented with lifestyle changes such as a healthier diet, using sunscreen, not smoking and limiting alcohol intake.

The charity World Fund Cancer Research (WCRF) said more needed to be done to get across the message that people who eat processed meat regularly are putting their health at risk.

The Government has introduced a bowel cancer screening programme to offer tests every two years to all men and women aged between 60 and 69. Older people could ask for testing.

But experts believe it is more effective to prevent bowel cancer, the second most lethal form of the disease after lung cancer.

Prof Martin Wiseman, the medical and scientific adviser for the WCRF, said there was convincing evidence of a link between processed meats and cancer.

Processed meat is preserved by smoking, curing, salting or the addition of preservatives.

Examples include ham, bacon, pastrami, salami, hot dogs and processed sausages.

This includes hamburgers and minced meat if it has been preserved with salt or chemical additives.

One in 20 people develops bowel cancer and 16,000 people die from it each year.

Prof Wiseman said: "We are more sure now than ever before that eating processed meat increases your risk of bowel cancer.

"Whether it is bacon or ham, the safest amount to eat is none at all.""

It is advisable to cut down on all salted food, particularly if you are overweight/obese, because all overweight and obese people are sensitive to salt, and it is this salt sensitivity that has caused them to become overweight with fluid retention.

Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, vascular dementia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, and improve your health in many other ways without drugs or expense by eating less salt! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!

See my website http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/.html (The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)

Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity

An aspirin a day can prevent bowel cancer but is only worth taking by those at high risk, research shows.

Aspirin found to cut bowel cancer - Independent

Extracts:

"An aspirin a day can prevent bowel cancer but is only worth taking by those at high risk, research shows.

People who took at least 300 mgs of aspirin a day for at least five years cut their overall risk of the cancer by more than a third. The effect was even more dramatic in the first 10 to 15 years after treatment started, with a 74 per cent reduction in the risk."

"However, the painkiller can cause gastro-intestinal bleeding. The authors said that, given these risks, its use to prevent bowel cancer could only be recommended for people at high risk.

In the past 30 years, aspirin has been proven effective against heart disease, three types of cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, stroke, infertility and deep vein thrombosis. Thousands of research papers each year confirm it as a wonder drug. "

You can reduce your risk of ALL of those illnesses cited above: heart disease, most cancers, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, osteoporosis, infertility and deep vein thrombosis and many other illnesses too, including obesity and high blood pressure, by simply reducing your intake of salt/sodium - better still, by cutting out all avoidable salt from what you eat. - Unlike taking aspirin daily, if you reduce your salt intake there are no adverse side-effects whatsoever.

See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/conditions.html

Lose weight by eating less salt! Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
(The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.)