There is a lower risk of cancer, if you eat organic food: pesticides are to blame

Organic food could reduce cancer risk due to the absence of pesticides that are potentially dangerous for our health, these are the conclusions by researchers who analyzed the eating habits of 70,000 people followed for almost five years. Let’s see what are the tumors developed by the participants.

Eating organic food seems to reduce the risk of developing cancer and the cause could be the absence of pesticides in these foods. The news was given by French researchers who collected data on 70,000 citizens, followed for four and a half years. But let's look at the study in detail and understand how it is possible.

The study

The researchers selected 70,000 French adults and followed them for 4 and a half years asking for detailed reports on their eating habits, but also on lifestyle and their economic conditions. The data collected showed that those who ate organic food were less likely to develop cancer.

The one who risks less

Specifically, the participants were 68,964, on average 44-years-old and 78% of these were women. Between 2009 and 2016, 1,340 cancers were diagnosed, the most common in the breast (459 cases), followed by prostate (180 cases), skin (135 cases), colon (99 cases), Hodgkin's lymphoma (47 cases) and other lymphomas (15 cases). Scientists explain that those with a lower risk were those who ate organic food more often, but also those who had a higher level of education and economic status. Furthermore, those who were less at risk were also those who did more physical activity, who did not smoke and who ate more fruits and vegetables. All these elements generally reduce the risk of cancer, so researchers are not certain that they can only attribute the responsibility for the least risk of developing cancer to organic food.

Why organic food is better

But why should organic food be better for our health? Experts explain that in non-organic food there are more traces of pesticides that are considered potentially carcinogenic and therefore dangerous to our health. Glyphosate, the most dangerous pesticide, is in fact present in many foods coming from (not organic) agriculture.