Methods Project: Cancer Cases

Methods Project Student Name Institution Due Date Methods Project Step 1 Howard, J. (2019). Thousands of cancer diagnoses tied to a poor diet, study finds. CNN. Retrieved May 28, 2019, from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/22/health/diet-cancer-risk-study/index.html Step 2 On May 23, 2019, CNN released an article associating cancer with a poor diet. The article focuses on a study published in the JNCI Cancer Spectrum. The author, Jacqueline Howard, indicates that the study proves that diet has more impact on cancer risk than individuals think. The article calls for individuals to reduce the intake of processed foodstuffs and embrace organic foods because they are healthier. The article begins by presenting the findings of the study, where about 80,110 new cancer cases for adults 20 years and above in the U.S in 2015 were attributable to the consumption of poor diet (Howard, 2019). The author notes that the number is equivalent to about 5.2% of all invasive cancer cases that were diagnosed in the country in the same year. The number is also comparable to the proportion of cancer burden attributable to alcohol in the U.S. The article indicates that the researchers obtained data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The investigators then utilized a comparative risk assessment model. Here, they estimated the number of cancer cases that were associated with poor diet and also evaluated the role diet may play in the U.S. cancer burden. They achieved this by using diet-cancer associations obtained from separate studies. The study found out that the low intake of whole grains and dairy products and taking more processed meat led to the highest burden of cancer in the country. Further, the research found out that men aged 45 to 65 years old and ethnic minorities had the highest proportion of diet-associated cancer burden compared to the other groups (Howard, 2019). The article further explored the findings of another research carried out in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal in 2017. The research indicated that individuals who took organic foods frequently reduced their overall risk of developing cancer. Another article in the same journal published in February 2017 indicated that Americans face a 14% higher risk of early death, with each 10% increase in the consumption of ultra-processed foods (Howard, 2019). One of the problems I find with the experiment is omitted variable bias. The researchers failed to take into consideration the effect of other cancer-causing factors apart from a poor diet. While the experiment proves the association between poor diet and cancer, it fails to indicate that other factors could be responsible for the increase in the number of cancer cases in the U.S. For instance, smoking, obesity, environmental exposure (UV radiation), occupational risk factors (e.g., exposure to carcinogens) and biological factors are other common causes of cancer (Blackadar, 2016). Hence, while poor diet is a major cause of the disease, other factors also contribute to the prevalence of the disease in the U.S. Another problem with the article is reverse causality of the assertion that an intake of p...