London:
Do you have a fetish for cheese? Beware, eating more than 50 grams of cheese daily may increase your risk of bladder cancer, a new study has claimed.
A team of Dutch and Belgian researchers found that the risk increased by more than 50 per cent in those who ate more than 53 grams of cheese a day -- roughly the same weight as a
small chocolate bar.
But eating less than that did not appear to increase the dangers, said the researchers, who also found that a daily portion of olive oil, on the other hand, can more than halve the risk of getting the disease, the Daily Mail reported.
For the study, the researchers looked at how dietary fats influence a person's chances of getting bladder cancer, which kills thousands of people every year worldwide.
According to scientists, smokers are four times more likely to develop the disease than non-smokers. Other risk factors include exposure to harmful chemicals in the workplace
and repeated bouts of bladder infections.
But studies have produced conflicting evidence on whether different types of fats prevent cancer or increase the chances of it occurring.
In the latest research, the team set out to discover if saturated fats, such as those found in meat and dairy products, made cancer more likely while healthier fats, such as olive oil, offered some protection.
They studied the eating habits of 200 bladder cancer victims and compared them with 386 volunteers who had not developed tumors.
The results showed eating cheese had little effect unless the amount exceeded 53 grams a day. After that, the risk went up by more than half.
However, the researchers stressed the numbers of people in the study may be too small to conclude that cheese is a major health threat and called for further investigations to verify their findings.
Though milk also appeared to raise cancer risk, the scientists said the results were not statistically significant. Other foods, such as fish, chicken, eggs and margarine appeared to have little effect, they said.
Detailing their findings in the the European Journal of Cancer, the researchers wrote, "We found a potentially protective effect from a high intake of olive oil and a suggestive increased risk from high cheese consumption. But these results need to be confirmed by other studies."