It may be impossible to eat healthily all the time, but do you even know the difference between something that has a few extra calories and something that can cause long-term negative effects on your health?
You might be surprised to find out that many foods that are called healthy are loaded with poisonous carcinogens. Here’s a list of eight surprising foods that cause cancer:
Microwaveable popcorn is convenient, but eating it is a risky endeavor. That’s because chemicals in the lining of the bag have been tested and found to cause testicular, liver and pancreatic cancers. The main culprit is a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid. So the next time you decide to pop some popcorn, do it the old-fashioned way.
2. Canned Fruits
Just like microwaveable popcorn, it’s actually what the can is made with that causes cancer. The lining of most canned foods contains a deadly chemical called bisphenol-A. One study conducted in 2013 confirmed that bisphenol-A affects the way genes work inside the brain of rats. If that doesn’t make you wary, consider the fact that even the lax FDA is supporting efforts to minimize or eliminate bisphenol-A in canned goods. Canned fruits and vegetables that are extremely acidic seems to cause bisphenol-A to leech into them, so cook fresh or buy glass bottles.
Here’s a list of some of the most common processed meats that contain carcinogens:
- Bacon
- Bologna
- Pimento loaf
- Hot dogs
- Sausages
The chemicals (sodium nitrate and others) that are used to make meats look appealing and fresh are known to be cancer-causing agents. Smoked meats are even worse as the smoking process causes meats to pick up tar.
4. Most ‘Diet’ Foods and Drinks
Everything that’s labeled diet from frozen foods to diet sodas, often include aspartame. Aspartame is used as an artificial sweetener in the place of sugar, but it has been labeled a cancer-causing agent by many studies.
Although salmon is one of the healthiest types of fish you can eat, you should strictly avoid farmed salmon. But you probably didn’t know that most of the salmon consumed in the USA is farm raised. Farm-raised salmon consume unnatural diets that are laden with pesticides, antibiotics and other well-known carcinogens. Since they live in very crowded conditions, they normally have 30 times the number of sea lice than wild salmon.
Additionally, farm-raised salmon are fed chicken litter, which causes their flesh to be a different color than wild-caught salmon. To fix this problem, farms feed their salmon cancer-causing chemicals to change the color of their flesh. Many studies have confirmed that farmed salmon contain cancer-causing dioxins and mercury. If you eat salmon, buy it canned or look for wild-caught salmon.
6. Potato Chips
America’s favorite snack food is chock full of high-glycemic carbohydrates, artificial flavors, artery-clogging trans fats, sodium and artificial colors. If that’s not enough to deter you, consider the fact that the high temperatures used to cook chips causes the formation of acrylamide, a substance responsible for causing several thousand cancers per year in
Americans.
7. GMO’s
Even when you eat fresh fruits and vegetables, you may still be putting yourself at risk. According to a study published by The Food & Chemical Toxicology Journal, genetically-modified corn caused rats to develop cancerous tumors as well as organ damage and premature death.
8. Apples
Apples are the most insecticide-contaminated fruit of all. According to a study where some 700 samples were taken, insecticides showed up on more than 98 percent of the apples. More than 90 percent of strawberries and blueberries were also confirmed to be contaminated.