Can the consumption of organic foods reduce your risk of cancer?

The authors of this study, known as the Million Women study, said at the time that the wealthier, more educated women in the study, who were more likely to buy organic foods, also had risk increasing the risk of breast cancer, such as having fewer children and higher alcohol consumption.

The organic food market has grown in recent years, both in Europe and the United States. In the United States, organic food sales reached $ 45.2 billion last year, according to the 2018 survey of the Organic Trade Association.

For food to be certified organic by the Ministry of Agriculture, products must be grown without using most synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and must not contain genetically modified organisms. The meat must be produced by raising animals fed with organic foods without the use of hormones or antibiotics. According to the organic trade group, these products now account for 5.5% of all food sold in retail stores.

A representative of the Alliance for Food and Agriculture, a group that seeks to address public concerns about pesticides, said consumers should not worry about the risks related to the consumption of conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. "Decades of peer-reviewed and widely conducted nutritional studies using conventionally grown products have shown that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables prevents diseases, such as cancer, and other diseases." prolongs life ", Executive Director Teresa Thorne said in a statement sent by email.

For the study, the researchers recruited 68,946 volunteers, of whom 44 years on average at the beginning of the study. The vast majority, 78%, were women.

Participants provided detailed information on how often they consumed 16 different types of organic foods. Researchers asked about a wide range of foods, including fruits, vegetables, dairy and soy products, meat, fish and eggs, as well as cereals and legumes, bread and cereals, flour, oils and condiments, wine, coffee and teas, biscuits and chocolate and sugar, and even dietary supplements. The study volunteers provided three 24-hour records of their consumption, including portion sizes, over a two-week period.

The information provided was much more detailed than that provided by participants in the British Million Women study, who had answered only one question about the frequency of their consumption of organic products.