Seaweed Trigger Cancer in Women

Seaweed Trigger Cancer in Women

Everything must have a negative impact if it is excessive. Likewise seaweed, although many benefits but if excessive can lead to thyroid cancer as revealed in a recent study in Japan.

Recent studies have shown that seaweed apparently led to high risk of cancer in women in the postmenopausal. As reported by NYDaily News, the increase of thyroid cancer is related to the mineral iodine found in seaweed.

A study in Japan showed that regular consumption of seaweed by postmenopausal women may increase in the risk of thyroid cancer. They linked this case with the iodine contained in the macrobiotic diet.

The study was conducted for 14 years at nearly 53,000 Japanese women aged between 40 and 69 years. The results showed that in this group appeared 134 cases of thyroid cancer and 113 cases of papillary carcinoma. Women who eat seaweed daily had 1.7 higher likelihood of getting cancer than women who ate two times a week.

This risk is even doubled in women who were postmenopausal at the time, and probably 3.8 times more likely to get cancer than those who ate little seaweed.

"Seaweed is clearly associated with an increased risk of papillary carcinoma hit by the disease." Said researchers at the National Cancer Center and the National Institute for Environmental Studies.

Based on research in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention, it remains unclear why the woman in the postmenopausal period have a higher risk of developing cancer. However, most likely this is related to the existing iodine in seaweed.

Japanese women have a higher risk because they have a habit of eating seaweed that contains 80 percent iodine. However, in this study did not mention how much seaweed is consumed by the participants in the study range from 2003 to 2007.