Risk factors for cancer

Unadjusted cancer v. food item correlations comparing 50 countries that have very low or very cancer rates.

1. Alcohol       r = .524 (p = .000)
2. Potatoes    r = .457 (p = .001)
3. Animal fat   r = .442 (p = .001)
4. Meat           r = .429 (p = .002)
5. Vegetables (insignificant)
6. Sugar (insignificant)
7. Wheat (insignificant)

Plausible biological mechanisms

1. Alcohol is a known Group1 carcinogen.
2. Acrylamide from frying potatoes
3. Heterocyclic amines from frying meat and increased IGF1 from consumption of complete proteins.

The French Health Ministry has made alcohol one of the chief villains in a drive against cancer. "The consumption of alcohol, and especially wine, is discouraged," say guidelines drawn from the findings of the National Cancer Institute. A single glass of wine a day will raise the chance of contracting cancer by up to 168 per cent, claims the ministry's brochure.

Apart from wine, the dangerous stuff is red meat, charcuterie and salt. A pavé de rum-steakmight not sound so mouth-watering after reading: "The risk of colon-rectal cancer rises by 29 per cent per 100-gramme portion of red meat per day and 21 per cent per 50-gramme portion of charcuterie."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5769159.ece

Studies do not support the hypothesis that glycemic load is associated with cancer, but high fructose consumption doesn't look good.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20962156

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20711806
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19336549

Controlled studies don't show that saturated fat promotes cancer.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19085838
Although trans fat is bad for heart disease it might actually be good for cancer.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17418560

Cabbage family vegetables, onion family vegetables, and tomatoes have anti-cancer properties but it may be that most vegetables do not. If you drink moderately you'll probably live longer but you'll also probably die of cancer instead of something else.

Using data available at:
http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/estimates_country/en/index.html

http://faostat.fao.org/site/368/default.aspx#ancor

Association does not prove a cause and effect relationship and lack of association does not prove lack of a cause and effect relationship.

The risk factors:

Alcohol
Tobacco
Sunburns
Over 10% of total calories from complete proteins especially meat
Fried foods especially potatoes
Vitamin D insufficiency
Sedentary lifestyle
Not enough cabbage and onion family vegetables and tomatoes
Not enough citrus and berries