For example, Splenda. I know this causes cancer, but what do these things do in your body to cause the growth of a tumor of some sort?
In: Biology
Splenda doesn’t cause cancer, it’s not even classified as a possible carcinogen.
However *other* foods that are considered by science to be possibly/probably carcinogenic generally contain chemicals that are know to alter or otherwise affect human DNA.
There is no surefire “cancer chemical”, but carcinogenic chemicals essentially are able to do the biochemical equivalent of going into your cells and start flipping switches, or standing in the way when certain critical activities like DNA replication are taking place. Over time, a cell is more likely to become cancerous the longer it’s exposed to these effects.
So let me explain something about cancer studies to identify carcinogens. _Possible_ carcinogens are discovered by science using the following procedure.
Rats, which always die of cancer, are exposed to large doses of these chemicals. Then, if the rats die sooner from cancer, that chemical is a possible carcinogen. Now the rub here is you know being exposed to a large dose of a chemical may cause cancer. That’s called a screening test. Very useful to know which chemicals you should be careful when handling. But getting small doses may be safe. We don’t know. Now I’m not gonna say you need not to be concerned when you here “possible carcinogen,” but it’s also not cause for alarm.
Mouthwash is a contains a _known_ carcinogen. Heavy doses will kill you. Yet it’s considered safe for topical applications.
“The difference between medicine and poison is dosage.”
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