Bread may cause Kidney Cancer

A recent article in International Journal of Cancer 20/10/2006, tells of a study that demonstrates that eating more than five slices of bread per day can increase the risk of kidney cancer by 94%.  Dr. Francesca Bravi from the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche in Milan, Italy, and her colleagues used food frequency questionnaires to compare diets of 767 patients with renal cell carcinoma for the two years before diagnosis to those of 1,534 controls admitted to the same hospitals with non-cancer disorders, according to a story from Reuters.

Actually, the first study of this type came from Italy in the early 1990s. Dr Barry Sears’ book written 11 years ago, The Zone, states, ”excess starch consumption is the foundation of a growing epidemic of silent inflammation of which obesity is the first indication.”

When Dr. Charles Fuchs of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute was asked to comment on the report for WCVB-TV in Boston, he said bread drives up your insulin levels, which can promote the growth of cancer cells in the kidney. What Dr. Fuchs didn’t mention is that high levels of insulin also increase silent inflammation by activating the enzyme (delta 5-desatuase) that produces arachidonic acid, the precursor of pro-inflammatory eicosanoids. Dr. Fuchs went on to say of excess insulin that “it pushes up your cholesterol, it promotes heart disease, it increases your risk of diabetes.”

White bread bad, but is wholemeal bread any better?

Here are some reasons why whole wheat or wholemeal bread is no better than white:

1. Wholemeal bread is rich in salt and may (usually!) contain partially hydrogenated and trans fats
2. Wheat, the grain used to make most bread, is (in my experience) one of the most common causes of food sensitivity issues which can lead to range of health issues including abdominal bloating, fluid retention, headaches and fatigue
3. Wholemeal bread has the same relatively high glycaemic index (extent of sugar release) as white bread, which basically means it's just as likely to induce issues such as weight gain, diabetes, heart disease and certain forms of cancer.