Does Everything Cause Cancer? New Study Shows Many Are Confused About Real Causes

Many people are unable to differentiate between real and unproven causes of cancer, according to a new study conducted by researchers in Spain.

The research published in The British Medical Journal also found that people who were not vaccinated for Covid-19 or believed in various conspiracy theories were less likely to be able to identify genuine, scientifically proven causes of cancer.

The researchers asked almost 1,500 people online about what causes cancer, evaluating their beliefs in evidence-based causes of cancer such as smoking, excess sun exposure and being overweight and mythical causes of cancer with no supporting scientific evidence, such as eating microwaved or genetically modified foods.

The survey identified that awareness of real causes of cancer was greater than the awareness of mythical causes of cancer. Almost all respondents knew that smoking causes cancer (97.4%) with most people also knowing that being overweight increases the chance of developing cancer (71.4%). Awareness of links of poor diet to cancer were much lower, with less than a quarter of respondents identifying that insufficient fruit and vegetables in diet is also linked to an increased risk of cancer.

Overall, half of respondents thought that artificial sweeteners were a cause of cancer and a further 38.4% of respondents said that genetically modified foods were a cause of cancer, despite no scientific evidence backing this up.

The study also delved deeper as to whether people who were unvaccinated, preferred alternative medicine or believed in conspiracies were more likely to be aware of real or mythical causes of cancer.

Of the 1,494 people who filled in the survey, 209 reported that they had not been vaccinated for Covid-19, 112 expressed a preference for alternative medicine. A further 62 people believed that the earth was flat, or that shapeshifting lizards exist on earth, collectively termed as “conspiracists” in the paper. 15 respondents answered that they were unvaccinated against Covid-19 and preferred alternative medicine and were conspiracists.

Study respondents who were unvaccinated, preferred alternative medicine or believed in conspiracies were less able to identify both real and mythical causes of cancer. For example, unvaccinated people and conspiracists identified on average 54.5% of actual causes of cancer as real, with those preferring alternative medicine scoring similarly. Vaccinated people and those who did not believe in conspiracies and respondents who expressed a preference for conventional, over alternative medicine were able to correctly identify 63.6% real causes of cancer.

Unvaccinated people were only able to identify 25% of the mythical causes of cancer as untrue, with conspiracy believers identifying just 16.7%. Those vaccinated against Covid-19 and those who did not believe in conspiracies were able to identify 41.7% of the mythical causes of cancer as being misinformation.

Half of the participants, irrespective of vaccination status, conspiracy beliefs or preference for alternative medicine agreed with the statement “it seems like everything causes cancer,” with the researchers concluding that their paper “highlights the difficulty that society encounters in differentiating actual causes of cancer from mythical causes owing to mass (veridical or not) information.”

The researchers mention that one limitation of their study was that it was conducted anonymously online, which may have affected the data collected.

The authors also conclude: “This suggests a direct connection between digital misinformation and consequent potential erroneous health decisions, which may represent a further preventable fraction of cancer.” They suggest that “improving online ranking algorithms, building trust, and using effective health communication and social marketing campaigns may be possible ways to tackle this complex public health threat.”