Cancer-causing foods that you really should avoid

MANILA, Philippines - Admit it or not, after a long tiring day at the office or after dragging hours of listening to your teacher’s lecture, all you want to do when you get home is to eat food in the most convenient way possible. And usually, the easiest food to prepare are those which require deep frying, microwave heating, or those that do not even need to be subjected to cooking at all. We all know that it is taxing to eat healthy meal all the time.

But do you know that these  kinds of food have detrimental effects on your health? These cancer-causing foods can contribute to the development of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. According to nutritionists and various health agencies, these are the top cancer-causing food that you probably have eaten for so many times:

1. Microwave Popcorn - Stick it in the microwave and pop it- how convenient is it to eat microwave popcorn? But these mouth-poppers are dangerous to your health. The popcorn bag is lined with a chemical called perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA). This toxic chemical is known to cause infertility and cancer in lab animals. The EPA lists this chemical as a known carcinogen. Moreover, diacetyl has been linked to a rare type of lung disease, bronchiolitis obliterans, also called "popcorn worker's lung" because it has been seen primarily in workers at microwave popcorn factories. 
2. Canned Goods - The lining of almost all canned goods are made with a chemical called bisphenol-A, or BPA. National Toxicology Program expressed “some concern for effects on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures to bisphenol-A. Because of concerns expressed in the last few years about the safety of BPA, FDA initiated additional studies to help determine whether or not BPA is safe as it is currently used in food packaging and containers. Some of these studies have been completed and others are on-going.Due to FDA laws, there are no standards for labeling BPA. But it is always better to avoid cans and eat freshly cooked food. Canned tomatoes are particularly dangerous because their high acidity causes BPA to leach into them. Frederick vom Saal, Ph.D.,an endocrinologist in University of Missouri said that there is 50 mcg of BPA per liter out of a tomato can, which is high enough to affect people, particularly children.
3. Processed Meat - Ever wonder why processed meat products looks so appealing and enticing? It is because processed meats contain too many chemical preservatives. Most processed meats contain sodium nitrite, which according to nutritionist Mike Adams, author of Grocery Warning Manual, is a carcinogenic precursor. 
4. Potato Chips - These are fried in high temperatures to make them crispy but this also causes them to make a material called  acrylamide, a known carcinogen that is also found in cigarettes. 
5. “Diet” Soda - Aspartame, one of the most common artificial sweeteners, causes a range of illnesses including birth defects and cancer. This has been found out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) when they conducted 20 separate research studies.
6. Conventional Apples, Grapes, and Other Fruits - Unless fruits are organic or verified to be pesticide-free, they could be a major cancer risk. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that up to 98 percent of all conventional produce, and particularly the type found on its “dirty” fruits list is contaminated with cancer-causing pesticides.