Nuts could help to prevent breast cancer

Question

"Essential mineral in BRAZIL nuts could help find new treatments to prevent breast cancer from spreading, scientists say"

Answer 1

This article by the Daily Mail does not specifically link the study they are pulling the information from, instead simply citing the information as from the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute. Looking up the information further leads to an article by Embo Molecular Medicine, an open-access peer-reviewed medical journal covering research in molecular medicine. Written by Ancély Ferreira dos Santos, Postdoctoral fellow at Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg according to her LinkedIn, and José Pedro Friedmann-Angeli, a professor for Translational Cell Biology at University of Würzburg, it appears that all the information in the article is factual, as it details the scientific process behind the findings of the study. The Daily Mail article also quotes the head researcher of the study, Dr Saverio Tardito. labeled as an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the School of Cancer Sciences at Glasgow University, according to their website. With decades of research about cancer and tumor progression, he also appears to be an honest source, having actively been behind that project.

Comments

I appreciate how you noted that they didn't link the study because that can be a bit of a red flag. However, I do appreciate that you went into depth and did more research about who published the study and their credentials. I was wondering if you could find any other studies or articles that can verify the claim, though.

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Always provide source links for what you cite (Embo Molecular Medicine for instance). Thanks!

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You stated: "After researching the Cancer Research UK Scotland website..."

Please always include all relevant source links within your fact-check. Thanks!

Answer 2

Fact checking this statement and the Daily Mail article, it is true that brazil nuts could help prevent breast cancer through the selenium they contain. The article pulls information sourced by the Cancer Research UK Scotland, which seems to be a trustable and prestigious source, specifically because of their high knowledge regarding cancer (the issue at hand). After researching the Cancer Research UK Scotland website, I found an article that corroborates the information previously cited. It details how interfering with selenium metabolism in cancer cells can be effective in killing them. The data from this study came from EMBO Molecular Medicine, a reliable scientific source. Furthermore, the article cites quotes from doctors who worked on studies surrounding Brazil nuts and breast cancer. After researching these quoted doctors, such as Dr. Sam Godfrey, I have no doubts that they are trustable sources. For instance, Dr. San Godfrey is a research information and science engagement lead, working for the Cancer Research UK.

Answer 3

While this article by the Daily Article did not specifically link to any research supporting their claim that scientists are using nuts from Brazil to develop cures for breast cancer, their claim surprisingly seems to be true. This article claims that a research study funded by Cancer Research UK shows that certain types of nuts contain a chemical called Selenium. Our bodies need this chemical to survive and even prevent cancer, but once someone has breast cancer, the cancer will die unless it receives more Selenium. I factchecked these claims on  Cancer Research UK's official website, and found articles (https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2024/10/22/selenium-could-a-common-food-supplement-help-prevent-the-spread-of-cancer/) detailing these exact same claims, as well as describing how scientists are developing drugs that can block Selenium  re-uptake in order to hopefully eradicate cancer after it is already in someone's body. After finding the exact article that the Daily Mail was citing, I can conclude that their article was factual.