{"id":361910,"date":"2026-01-10T01:29:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T01:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/361910\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T01:29:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T01:29:12","slug":"cancer-fears-spike-as-scientists-discover-link-to-5-every-day-foods-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/361910\/","title":{"rendered":"Cancer fears spike as scientists discover link to 5 every day foods | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Worrying new research has linked a number of preservatives found in everything from cured meats to toothpastes could be linked to an increased risk of cancer. The potentially carcinogenic ingredients<\/a> were found in a new study published in the European Medical Journal (EMJ), which also flagged the alarming preservatives in salad dressings, ketchup and mustard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

French scientists took the data from a sample of over 100,000 people, 80 per cent of whom were women, with an average age of 42. Participants were monitored for their consumption of preservatives using a 24-hour dietary record completed over 7.5 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The people taking part in the research were studied from 2009 to 2023 and by the time the research was complete around 4,000 had been diagnosed with cancer, including breast,<\/a> prostate and colorectal.<\/p>\n

According to the EMJ, researchers found “the strongest and most consistent associations were observed for breast cancer”. It added: “Higher intakes of potassium sorbate, potassium metabisulphite, potassium nitrate and sodium erythorbate were each linked to a significantly increased risk.<\/p>\n

“Women with the highest exposure to these preservatives had between a 20 and 26 per cent higher risk of breast cancer compared with those with the lowest exposure.<\/p>\n

The EMJ said<\/a> the study also identified “some associations between preservative intake and overall cancer risk” but that findings related to prostate and colorectal cancers “were less consistent”.<\/p>\n

The publication said in a statement: “The researchers conclude that if these findings are confirmed by further studies, they could prompt European and international health authorities to reassess the safety of certain preservatives.<\/p>\n

“Such a review, they argue, could help improve consumer protection and inform dietary guidelines in an era of widespread consumption of ultra-processed foods.”<\/p>\n

The strongest and most consistent associations were observed for breast cancer. Higher intakes of potassium sorbate, potassium metabisulphite, potassium nitrate and sodium erythorbate were each linked to a significantly increased risk.<\/p>\n

The Mail Online<\/a> reports Professor William Gallagher, from the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, University College Dublin, said: “One cannot make causal links directly from this study.<\/p>\n

“But it does make some interesting observations particularly in respect to an association between higher intake of non-antioxidant preservatives and higher rates of overall cancer, breast and prostate cancer.<\/p>\n

“These higher rates of cancer are modest (e.g. 10-30 per cent increased risk) but are significant when taken at a population-based level in terms of potential impact.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Worrying new research has linked a number of preservatives found in everything from cured meats to toothpastes could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2199,847,30800,59,102,102993,56,7653,7656,54,55],"class_list":["post-361910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-breast-cancer","tag-cancer","tag-cancer-risk","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-preservatives","tag-uk","tag-ultra-processed-food","tag-ultra-processed-foods","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}