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While Health Canada considers the ingredient to be safe, the company is tweaking its drink to avoid criticism.

We all know we ought to cut down on the soft drinks, but could an addiction to pop actually give you cancer? Possibly, according to a controversial study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an American consumer group.

CPSI released the results of the study earlier this week, saying that Coke, Pepsi and the diet versions of each contain high levels of a chemical that is known to cause cancer in lab rats. The ingredient is in the caramel colouring that gives cola its signature brown hue.

The state of California added the compound in question, called 4-methylimidazole or 4-MI, to its list of known carcinogens in 2011.

However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a statement that drinking cola poses no immediate risk to consumers — in fact, a person would have to drink more than a thousand cans of soda daily to match the amount of the substance given to rats in lab studies.

Read more: Could drinking pop give you cancer?

Science is beginning to discover that these herbs may inhibit cancer.

As a registered dietitian and associate nutrition editor at EatingWell Magazine, I know that herbs and spices do more than simply add flavor to food. They let you cut down on some less-healthy ingredients, such as salt, added sugars and saturated fat, and some have inherent health benefits, many of which Joyce Hendley reported on for EatingWell Magazine

.Modern science is beginning to uncover the ultimate power of spices and herbs, as weapons against illnesses from cancer to Alzheimer’s disease. “We’re now starting to see a scientific basis for why people have been using spices medicinally for thousands of years,” says Bharat Aggarwal, Ph.D., professor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and author of Healing Spices (Sterling, 2011).

Read more: 8 of the World’s Healthiest Spices & Herbs You Should Be Eating

Quitting smoking and using sunscreen aren’t the only ways to cut your risk.

Don’t smoke, wear sunscreen, exercise—you likely know these top habits for reducing your risk for breast cancer and other forms of the disease (and hopefully you’re already practicing them!). But there’s one more step you can take every day to cut your cancer odds that’s not only simple, it’s also enjoyable: Eat well! “Research suggests the phytochemicals in food can fight cancer by doing everything from preventing cellular changes to stopping the flow of blood to a cancerous tumor,” says Sally Scroggs, R.D., of the Cancer Prevention Center at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. As a general rule, aim to eat 2½ cups of fruit and vegetables each day—vary your choices to get a mix of antioxidants and phytochemicals in your diet. For your main protein sources, eat mostly fish, poultry and beans; studies show consuming more than 18 ounces of red meat per week may increase the risk for colon and pancreatic cancer. Keep your grains whole: Fiber helps move poten-tially carcinogenic waste through your system quickly, which may lower the risk for colorectal cancer, Scroggs says. And finally, sip tea, which contains catechins, antioxidants that may lower cancer risk. Want recipes to get you started? These tasty snacks are so delicious, you won’t even notice how good you’re being. Enjoy two every day.

Read more: 6 Cancer-Fighting Snacks

Tanning beds are no surprise, but even something as common as coffee might be dangerous.

Are Americans “bombarded with…dangerous exposures” to cancer-causing toxins, as a scary report from the President’s Cancer Panel contends? Of more than 80,000 chemicals on the US market–some found in products used by millions of people in daily life—only a few hundred have ever been tested for safety, warns the report, released in May. Yet these largely unregulated chemicals, including some linked to cancer risk, are now so ubiquitous in our environment that 300 contaminants have been detected in the umbilical cord blood of newborns, leading the authors to warn that babies are born “pre-polluted.”

Over a lifetime, 41 percent of Americans will develop cancer, and 21 percent will die from it. While the leading culprits include smoking, obesity, and sun exposure, a variety of common products—some of them quite surprising—can also be triggers, according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Here’s a guide to seven known or probable carcinogens:

Read more: 7 Everyday Products That are Linked to Cancer

To reduce your risk of disease, you don’t need to look any further than your fridge.

To reduce your risk of cancer, look no further than your fridge. “All the studies on cancer and nutrition point to eating plant-based foods for their phytonutrients and other special compounds,” says Richard Béliveau, PhD, chair in the prevention and treatment of cancer at the University of Québec at Montreal and author of Foods to Fight Cancer.

Aim for five to nine daily servings of all kinds of fruits and vegetables—especially these six superstars.

Read more: 6 cancer-fighting superfoods

Previous studies have shown that deli meat may not be the healthiest choice, but now doctors are able to more specifically pinpoint the dangers, according to a study published in the journal Cancer.

Researchers have linked red meat cold cuts to a 29 percent higher risk of having bladder cancer. The nitrates added to red meats to preserve and enhance the color showed “a positive nonlinear association for red meat cold cuts” and bladder cancer, the journal Cancer study said.

Read more: U.S. Study Finds Cold Cuts May Cause Bladder Cancer

Is it just me, or does it seem like, these days, almost everyone has cancer somewhere in their family tree? Terrifying? Totally. But the good, absolutely fantastic, news is that regardless of your family history, you can very easily lower your cancer risk. The best way to start: Pile some delicious food on your fork, chew, swallow and repeat.

Read more here: The Anti-Cancer Diet

Move over black raspberries.

New research shows that a variety of other types of berries – including more readily available and affordable blueberries, strawberries and red raspberries – along with more exotic and expensive varieties like noni, acaí (pronounced ah-sye-EE) and wolfberries – may prevent cancer about as well as previously studied black raspberries.

In the first-ever study comparing the cancer preventive properties of berries, researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC-James), tested seven berry types and found that all seven were about equally effective in preventing the development of esophageal cancer in rodents.

Read more here: New Research Shows Common Berries Fight Cancer As Well As Exotic Varieties

The humble mushroom should be viewed as having more of a health benefit than originally thought, says the group project leader of research into the fungus at the University of Alberta.

After reviewing the findings of more than 60 existing studies that explore the nutritional aspects of mushrooms, a team of dietary students concluded that overall they have some powerful health benefits, says Kaila Hauck, a fourth-year student at the university.

Read more here: Mushrooms have powerful health benefit: study

Eating lots of fruit and vegetables has only a small effect on warding off cancer, a study published on Wednesday says, although its authors insist that tucking into the recommended “five-a-day” is still good for general health.

Eating lots of fruit and vegetables has only a small effect on warding off cancer, a new study has shown although its authors insist that tucking into the recommended “five-a-day” is still good for general health.

Doctors led by Paolo Boffetta at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, pored over eight years of data from a major European investigation into the relationship between cancer risk and food.

The investigation, which is continuing, covers nearly 470,000 volunteers recruited in 10 Western European countries.

Read more: ‘Five-a-day’ has limited impact on cancer risk