I came across an interesting article on MSN about the misconceptions people have about cancer.
Researchers surveyed almost 30,000 people in various countries, asking them what they believed to affect cancer risk.
The researchers had some interesting findings. First, they found that people in high-income countries often didn't believe that alcohol intake affected cancer risk, despite the scientific evidence that cancer risk increases as alcohol intake increases. These people also thought that not eating enough fruits and vegetables was more risky than drinking alcohol, although the opposite is true.
Another interesting thing was that people were more likely to accept things they could not control (such as environmental factors, including air pollution) as risk factors for cancer, and were less likely to accept things they could control (such as body weight, which is strong risk factor for cancer).
This made me think about how our priorities are often screwed up. I've noticed people tend to "micro-manage" their bodies, worrying about whether little things like artificial ingredients or pesticides cause cancer, while ignoring the important things, such as body weight and lifestyle. People tend to dramatically over-estimate the risks caused by the little things, and under-estimate (or ignore) the risks caused by the big things.
I've seen people worry about whether the food they eat is organic or not, while ignoring whether they're getting enough fruits and vegetables in the first place.
I've seen people who don't exercise worry about the monosodium glutamate (MSG) content in their foods.
The bottom line is that we need to get our priorities straight. Rather than making mountains out of molehills, we should be worrying about if we get enough physical activity, if we are eating a healthy, balanced diet, and if we are controllling our weight. Those things will go much further into helping to lower our risk of cancer than worrying about if a food has yellow #5.