If you eat a lot of white bread, it might just increase the risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), which happens to be the most common type of kidney cancer, a case-control study has revealed.
Previous studies had also been done on RCC, which showed that diet definitely plays an important role in monitoring the risk of the disease. However, the studies failed to tell which foods could be harmful or beneficial.
A group of researchers led by Francesca Bravi of the Institute of Pharmacological Research Mario Negri in Milan conducted a large case-control study of around 2300 Italians. The research was conducted with a view to understand the relationship between specific foods and RCC risk.
For their study, the researchers enrolled 767 adults diagnosed with RCC and 1,534 controlled subjects who did not have the disease between 1992 and 2004.
They matched two controlled subjects to each case by gender, age range, and location, and collected socio-demographic information, anthropomorphic measures, lifestyle habits, and personal and family medical history from each participant.
They also administered a 78-item food frequency questionnaire which comprised of questions about the average weekly consumption for each item over the previous two years, and analyzed the information gathered. They found that those who consumed more bread had a higher RCC risk.
The researchers found that those who consumed more bread had a higher RCC risk. They also saw a modest non-significant risk increase amongst those who ate a lot of pasta and rice. By contrast, decreasing risk was associated with increasing intake of poultry, processed meat, and vegetables.