11 Comments
Nov 13, 2023Liked by Stacy Wentworth, M.D.

This is a very helpful, relevant post, especially for primary care questions I field! Thank you. Is there a tiny debatable kernel of truth perhaps indirectly in some of these myths? For example, I know that obesity is linked with cancer, and obesity is often driven/sustained by ultraprocessed foods/sugar. I don’t worry about the genetic modification of foods, but I am concerned about the Roundup, glyphosate, etc. that gets dumped on the plants themselves to higher degrees when using genetically modified plants. And finally wasn’t there at least one study showing a possible mechanism/ association between gliomas and cell phone radiation, potentially mediated through prolonged cell phone use next to the head causing thermal effects on proteins/surrounding structures, but not mediated through ionizing radiation?

I don’t want to be alarmist even mentioning these, just want to see if there is a tiny shred of truth to any of these, certainly much less concerning than some fear!

A slight precaution here has me using the speakerphone on my iPhone, trying to get organic vegetables for the dirty dozen foods/vegetables/fruits, and trying to get some of the Halloween candy out of my house! Thanks again.

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Hey Ryan! Great questions and I'm so glad you brought this up. I'm sure you get these all the time and it is confusing when everyone is trying to do their best.

The good news is that the same modifications that will help with heart disease and diabetes also help prevent cancer: Maintaining a healthy weight, increasing physical activity, low alcohol consumption and limiting red/processed meat are the current recommendations that have strong evidence behind them. (https://www.aicr.org/cancer-prevention/how-to-prevent-cancer/)

As far as Round-up goes. a large study called the Agricultural Health Study that is following farmers and their families who have direct exposure to glyphosate did not find a link to lymphoma or other cancers. For consumers, our risk is significantly lower. Wash your produce and your exposure is low. (https://aghealth.nih.gov/)

Definite no on the cell phones and brain tumors. Old studies were flawed due to recall bias.

No study has ever shown improved health outcomes to eating organic over non-organic foods. There are also valid critiques on how the EWG decided on the "dirty dozen" label. From the article in the Journal of Toxicology in 2011: "It is concluded that (1) exposures to the most commonly detected pesticides on the twelve commodities pose negligible risks to consumers, (2) substitution of organic forms of the twelve commodities for conventional forms does not result in any appreciable reduction of consumer risks, and (3) the methodology used by the environmental advocacy group to rank commodities with respect to pesticide risks lacks scientific credibility."

Here's a great handout from my friend Julie, The Cancer Dietitian.

https://cancerdietitian.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/15-Cancer-Nutrition-Myths-Debunked.pdf

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Nov 14, 2023Liked by Stacy Wentworth, M.D.

This is a really thoughtful and expert reply, thank you!

I usually find that we fear and obsess over trivial risks while ignoring or denying the elephants in the room.

I'll follow these links and remember this post for future patients, too.

I'm still suspicious (superstitious?) regarding prolonged cell phone use right against the head though. Case control studies showing possible associations had potential recall bias, so I won't cite them here. But I do recall studies like this one discussed in SciAm (in rats) which at least posited a small effect from thermal increases in neurologic tissue:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-studies-link-cell-phone-radiation-with-cancer/

No need to to respond. I think overwhelmingly convincing evidence regarding organic foods versus conventional ones, and 8 hours of cell phone use a day will be hard to isolate in any kind of study. It's like the Cochrane meta-analysis fail regarding masks.

Anyway, like my post about radiation while flying, I need to take my own chill pill and accept what you're showing here. Thanks again!!

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Nov 2, 2023Liked by Stacy Wentworth, M.D.

I've been reading your words with interest, as I have prostate cancer that's spread to my bones and am having chemotherapy.

As it happens I am a cartoonist, so have started a strip cartoon series on Substack about living with the disease. It's called Chemo Freak and it's fairly brutal at times, but it's how I feel.

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Sometimes brutal is the only way to describe it. Early on in my career, I tried to be overly positive to an old country guy who was clearly dying. He looked me straight in the eye and with stern kindness said "Doc. Please don't piss on my boot and tell me it's raining." I never did that again.

I can't wait to check out your cartoons.

Thank you so much for reading and being in this community. I am rooting for you.

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Nov 3, 2023Liked by Stacy Wentworth, M.D.

What a lovely response...

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Thanks for your well researched information. I love it when myths are debunked. That's especially true for the one about sugar.

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As a dad with a daughter with post op mets melanoma (now on immunotherapy) it’s good to put myths where they belong. It’s a hard road for her but she’s living her best life. As a survivor of 58 surgeries from spina bifida I have always preached that the secret to a happy life is to develop a terminal illness and then take care of it!

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Clearly your daughter is made from tough stuff! I wish I could shout these myths from the rooftops so people would stop saying them to patients who are doing their absolute best. Thank you for reading and for sharing.

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I’ll shout best I can!

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Thank you for this Stacy. Especially the link to the Ohio State article. As a former employee of 'Big pharma' and now caregiver it's tough to hear the conspiracy theories and myths that constantly swirl about pharma.

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