About the Annual Meeting 
 
 Experimental Biology is the annual meeting of six societies comprised of more than 14,000 scientists and 50 guest societies. 
 
 Primary focus areas include anatomy, biochemistry and molecular biology, investigative pathology, nutrition, pharmacology, and physiology. EB 2017 is open to everyone with interest in the latest research impacting life sciences. Attendees represent scientists from academic institutions, government agencies, non-profit organizations and industry. 
 
 This multidisciplinary, scientific meeting features plenary and award lectures, workshops, oral and posters presentations, on-site career services and exhibits spotlighting equipment, supplies and publications required for research labs and experimental study. ||||| Recent years have brought more attention to the role of carbohydrates in our diets and the differences between healthy and unhealthy carbs, most often in the context of weight control. A new study highlights one more reason to avoid sugary beverages, processed foods and other energy-dense carbohydrate-containing foods -- cutting them may help reduce your risk of cancer. 
 
 In the new study, regular consumption of sugary beverages was associated with a 3 times greater risk of prostate cancer and higher intake of processed lunch foods such as pizza, burgers and meat sandwiches doubled prostate cancer risk. By contrast, healthy carbohydrate-containing foods like legumes, non-starchy vegetables, fruits and whole grains were collectively associated with a 67 percent lower risk for breast cancer. 
 
 "One of the most important findings here is that the type of carbohydrate-containing foods you consume can impact your cancer risk," said Nour Makarem, a Ph.D. student at New York University and the study's lead author. "It appears that healthy carbohydrate sources, such as legumes, tend to protect us from cancer, but non-healthy ones, such as fast foods and sugary beverages, seem to increase the risk of these cancers." 
 
 Makarem will present the research at the American Society for Nutrition Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting during Experimental Biology 2016. 
 
 The study is based on the health records of 3,100 volunteers tracked since the early 1970s. Researchers began tracking participants' diets through detailed food frequency questionnaires starting in 1991. For the new study, Makarem and her colleagues categorized all of the study participants' food sources by glycemic index -- a measure of dietary carbohydrate quality based on an item's relative impact on blood sugar levels as compared to a reference food -- and glycemic load, a measure of both the quantity and quality of carbohydrates in a given food item. They then analyzed the results in relation to volunteers' cancer rates. 
 
 After taking into account multiple cancer risk factors, the study found that eating foods with a higher glycemic load was associated with an 88 percent higher prostate cancer risk. Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in men. 
 
 "Our study showed very strong associations between certain foods and cancer, in particular with prostate cancer," said Makarem. "There had not been very many studies on food sources and prostate cancer previously." 
 
 The risk increase was most pronounced for people who regularly consumed processed lunch foods or sugary beverages, a category that includes sugar-sweetened soft drinks in addition to fruit juices, which can be naturally high in sugar and often contain added sugars. 
 
 "Americans consume almost half of their added sugars in beverages," said Makarem. "Sugar-sweetened beverages have been shown to increase the risk of obesity and diabetes, and our study documents that they may also have a detrimental impact on cancer risk." 
 
 By contrast, consuming low-glycemic index foods such as legumes, non-starchy vegetables, most fruits and whole grains was associated with a 67 percent lower breast cancer risk. Breast cancer risk was also reduced among women who had a higher level of carbohydrate intake overall as a proportion of their total calories. However, in this study participants with in the highest level of carbohydrate intake also had higher intakes of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes. These findings underscore the idea that the type of carbohydrates matters more than the total amount of carbohydrates, said Makarem. 
 
 Among individual foods, legumes such as beans, lentils and peas were associated with 32 percent lower risk of all overweight- and obesity-related cancers, including breast, prostate and colorectal cancers. 
 
 By nature of the study design, the results point only to associations, not necessarily to cause-and-effect. Nonetheless, the findings are in line with previous studies, which have shown that malignant cancer cells seem to feed on sugar, and that diets high in refined carbohydrates may lead to a range of adverse health effects primarily due to their impacts on body fatness and on the dysregulation of insulin and glucose, both of which are factors that may increase cancer risk. 
 
 "Current cancer prevention guidelines recommend avoiding sugary drinks and limiting the consumption of energy-dense foods, which tend to be high in refined carbohydrates," said Makarem. "I think our findings add to the body of evidence behind this recommendation and strengthen the associations between these types of food and cancer." 
 
 One caveat that Makarem noted is that the volunteers involved in the study were 99 percent Caucasian. Further study is needed to determine if these associations hold true in more ethnically-diverse groups. 
 
 Makarem will present the findings during the Experimental Biology 2016 meeting on Tuesday, April 5. ||||| There's no denying that hamburgers are delicious. But according to a new study, men who ate them often were much more likely to develop prostate cancer. 
 
 Scientists have long known that foods can raise or lower a person’s risk for developing cancer. But unraveling which foods can lead to which cancers—and for what kinds of patients—has been anything but easy. The most obvious example was the World Health Organization’s recent declaration that eating processed meats can increase a person’s risk of colorectal cancer. Now it seems that some types of carbohydrates and sugars might also increase a person’s cancer risk; people who regularly consumed sugary drinks were three times more likely to develop prostate cancer, and processed carbohydrates like those found in pizza and hamburgers doubled their risk. The researchers presented their work yesterday at this year’s Experimental Biology meeting. 
 
 The researchers have tracked the diets of over 3,000 volunteers since 1991. Periodically, they gave participants questionnaires about the types of foods they usually ate, then ranked their foods based on whether the carbohydrates were “good” (legumes, non-starchy vegetables, fruit, whole grains) or “bad” (processed meats, sugary soft drinks, fruit juices). Then they compared the participants' food sources to their cancer rates, controlling for a number of factors. 
 
 They found that people who ate more “bad” carbs were 88 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer. For those who consumed a lot of processed meats and sugary beverages, that risk was even higher. On the other hand, women who ate more “good” carbs were 67 percent less likely to develop breast cancer. In particular, legumes like beans and lentils lowered patients’ overall risk of developing cancer by 32 percent. 
 
 "Our study showed very strong associations between certain foods and cancer, in particular with prostate cancer," Nour Makarem, a doctoral student at New York University and the lead author on the study, said in a press release. "There had not been very many studies on food sources and prostate cancer previously." 
 
 There are some big caveats here, though. Because of the study design, the researchers don’t know the mechanism that connects sugar and cancer development—that would require much more technical studies in the future. They also note that 99 percent of their study participants were Caucasian. That would have almost certainly thrown off their conclusions, especially since black men are much more likely to develop prostate cancer. It’s also difficult to separate patients’ eating habits from their body mass index, which is important because obesity is a known risk factor for a number of types of cancer, though its link to prostate cancer is more tenuous. What’s more, even foods that have been repeatedly shown to increase cancer risk, like processed meats, are not as carcinogenic as other factors like smoking. 
 
 At this early stage, it’s impossible to know just what this association means. Nonetheless, it’s a robust one, the researchers say. Future studies will likely look into the mechanism that might make sugars and carbohydrates increase a patient’s cancer risk.
– Meat is often the bad guy linked to higher cancer rates: The World Health Organization says bacon is carcinogenic and red meats in general "probably" are, while grilling meats is linked to higher kidney cancer rates. But researchers out of New York University report in ScienceDaily that their latest study suggests it isn't just meat but highly processed "bad" carbohydrates (think sugary soft drinks and pizza) that are linked to higher cancer rates. They've presented their findings at the American Society for Nutrition Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting, noting that the link is strongest to prostate cancer, which is nearly twice as common among men who eat "bad" carbs over "good" ones such as legumes and whole grains. The longitudinal study follows 3,100 volunteers as far back as the 1970s, with participants regularly reporting detailed food questionnaires starting in 1991. All foods were categorized by glycemic index, which measures carbohydrate quality by looking at its impact on blood sugar compared to a reference food, as well as glycemic load, which measures both the quantity and quality of carbs in each item. Controlling for many variables, they compared these results to the participants' cancer rates. And while Popular Science notes that there are some holes in the study, including that 99% of the participants were Caucasian, the study is a "robust" one and will likely be followed up by additional investigations into the precise mechanism at play between carbs and cancers. (Bad carbs have also been linked to depression.)