Cancer report takes the bacon

Flabby claims about food and cancer | spiked

Professor Patrick Basham and Dr John Luik, authors of Diet Nation: Exposing the Obesity Crusade, pick apart a shocking report on food and cancer that hit the headlines around the world last week.

‘Scientists find link between body fat and cancer risk’, declared the UK Independent. ‘Cancer study sparks bacon sandwich backlash’, said the Melbourne Herald Sun. ‘To avoid the Big C, stay small’, warned The Economist. Publications around the world summarised the findings of the latest report on cancer to tell us that bad diets and expanding waistlines are a public health disaster.

But before committing ourselves to a dietary life of little red meat or alcohol, and few fizzy drinks, milk shakes, crisps or other such ‘bad’ foods, let’s look behind the scary headlines and ask whether the scientific evidence really supports these cancer truths.