Can Your Mediterranean/Probiotic Diet Give You Cancer?

This post is based on an more technical  article, originally published on January 15, 2024

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By Lewis PerdueSome global health organizations claim that a common molecule found in many Mediterranean and probiotic diets foods can cause cancer. This happens despite it contradicting with peer-reviewed nutritional science.

The controversy persists because the U.S. Centers for Disease control, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and other groups  have declared that the molecule — acetaldehyde (AAH) — is a carcinogen. The bulleted list below contains a few of the many examples of everyday, healthy foods that contain AAH.

According to this journal article, AAH is categorized as a Short Chain Fatty Acid   (SCFA) which have anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, anti-diabetes, anti-cancer, cardiovascular protective, and protects the liver, nerves, and immune system.

So, why then has AAH become such a cancer target? Because it is also produced when your body metabolizes alcohol and is quickly used by your metabolism along with other SCFAs. That association has mistakenly made AAH the single most prominent  — if misguided — target for those who believe that any level of alcohol consumption is healthy no matter how small.

This focus on AAH comes despite the fact that the scientific literature considers it an vital compound active in a wide variety of healthy and beverages and foods (see bulleted list below) including green tea, yogurt, and popular probiotics such as kefir and kimchi.

This situation is even morw confusing because a scientific paper in the U.S. National Library of Medicine  indicates that AAH is present in many everyday foods and non-alcoholic beverages including:

• apples,
• broccoli,
• coffee,
• cheese,
• yogurt,
• milk
• grapefruit,
• grapes, lemons,
• mushrooms,
• onions,
• oranges,
• peaches,
• nectarines,
• pears,
• pineapples,
• raspberries,
• strawberries,
• cranberries,
• sour cherries,
• mangos,
• cooked beef, chicken, and fish.
• condiments like chili-paste,
• fermented and pickled vegetables, and
• drinks such as kombucha.

AAH also occurs in the essential oils of:

• alfalfa,
• rosemary,
• balm,
• clary sage,
• bitter orange,
• camphor,
• angelica,
• fennel,
• mustard, and
• peppermint.

Most recently, the IARC issued a methologically flawed, and poorly sourced paper  declaring that AAH causes cancer by damaging your DNA and preventing your body from repairing the damage. This assertion has been made despite the presence of a swift and efficient human metabolic process that rapidly converts AAH to a harmless compound.

Please see our extensive article that takes an in-depth look at the flaws in that paper, and in the regulatory decisions based on it, together with similar assertions.

BY COMPARISON — The scientific journal Toxicological Research compared a set of AAH concentrations:

• Alcoholic beverages, the content of AA was 1,043.57 to 40,607.02 parts per billion (ng/g).
• Alcohol-free beverages, the content of AA was N.D (Not Detectible) to 20,061.48 parts per billion.
• Instant coffee 31,200 to 35,510 parts per billion
• Roasted coffee 1,150 to 40,140 parts per billion
• Fruit was in the range of 483.42 to 19,530.53 parts per billion, and
• Dairy products, were N.D  to 1,525.18 parts per billion.

An additional paper listing more foods containing AAH can be found at this link.

THE BIG HITCH — Note that the AAH of alcohol is on a par with most of the these listed foods. Either THOSE ordinary foods are unexpectedly UNhealthy, or alcohol is not as bad as claimed. More significantly, the total level of daily exposure to AAH is far higher with “healthy” foods, because people consume a greater quantity of those items in their overall diets than with alcohol beverages.

THE TRUTH MAY BE OUT THERE — Is AAH carcinogenic? Not according to published scientific studies, including an October 2023 paper: Acetaldehyde as a Food Flavoring Substance: Aspects of Risk Assessment — which challenges that fundamental assertion.

THE BIG DISCONNECT — In the United States AAH is commonly added to many foods and beverages because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers it an ingredient that is GRAS: “Generally Recognized As Safe . (use CTRL+F and search “acetaldehyde”) to find it at that link).

PRATFALL AHEAD — By choosing AAH as its evil cancer villain, government agencies and other alcohol control advocates have figuratively slipped on a nutritional banana peel.

Finally: If you believe the IARC, then, avoid ripening bananas!

From: “Quantitative Determination of Acetaldehyde in Foods Using Automated Digestion with Simulated Gastric Fluid Followed by Headspace Gas Chromatography”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lewis Perdue is Chief Scientist and Chairman of the Center for Research on Environmental Chemicals in Humans

Thanks to David Morrison for his assistance with this article and the original extended version of this article