From
Processed
meats, including bacon (sorry!), are cancer hazards, WHO says — and red meat
probably is too
by
Angela Charlton,
The Associated Press | October
26, 2015
PARIS — It’s official:
Bacon, ham, hot dogs and other processed meats can lead to colon, stomach and
other cancers — and red meat is probably cancer-causing, too.
While doctors in rich countries have long warned against eating too much
meat, the World Health Organization’s cancer agency gave
the most definitive response yet on Monday about its relation to cancer — and put processed meats in the same
danger category as smoking or asbestos.
The findings don’t say that
a slice of salami is as dangerous as a cigarette, but they could weigh on
public health policy and recommendations by medical groups amid a growing
debate about how much meat is good for us. The meat industry protests the
classification, arguing that cancer isn’t caused by a specific food but also
involves lifestyle and environmental factors.
A group of 22 scientists
from the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France
evaluated more than 800 studies from several continents about meat and cancer.
The studies looked at more than a dozen types of cancer in populations with
diverse diets over the past 20 years.
Based on that evaluation, the IARC classified processed
meat as “carcinogenic to humans,” noting links in particular to colon cancer.
It said red meat contains some important nutrients, but still labeled it
“probably carcinogenic,” with links to colon, prostate and pancreatic cancers.
Ian Johnson, a nutrition
researcher with the Institute of Food Research who is unconnected to the IARC
findings, cautioned that the classification doesn’t reflect “the actual size of
the risk,” but said meat consumption is one of many factors contributing to
high rates of bowel cancer in the U.S., western Europe and Australia.
“The mechanism is poorly
understood, and the effect is much smaller than, for example, that of cigarette
smoking on the risk of lung cancer,” he said.
The cancer agency noted
research by the Global Burden of Disease Project suggesting that 34,000 cancer deaths per year
worldwide are linked to diets heavy in processed meat — compared with
one million deaths a year linked to smoking, 600,000 a year to alcohol
consumption and 200,000 a year to air pollution.
The agency said it did not
have enough data to define how much processed meat is too dangerous, but said
the risk grows with the amount consumed. Analysis of 10 of the studies
suggested that a 50-gram portion of processed meat daily increases the risk of
colorectal cancer over a lifetime by about 18 per cent.
In view of the large number
of people who consume processed meat, the global impact on cancer incidence is
of public health importance
Doctors have warned that a diet loaded with red meat is linked to
cancers, including those of the colon and pancreas. The American Cancer Society has long urged people to
reduce consumption of red meat and processed meat.
“For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of
their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with
the amount of meat consumed,” Dr. Kurt
Straif of the IARC said in a statement. “In view of the large number of people
who consume processed meat, the global impact on cancer incidence is of public
health importance.”
The North American Meat
Institute argued in a statement that “cancer is a complex disease not caused by
single foods” and stressed the importance of lifestyle and environmental
factors.
The researchers defined
processed meat as anything transformed to improve its flavour or to preserve
it, including sausages, canned meat, beef jerky and anything smoked. They
defined red meat as “all types of mammalian muscle meat, such as beef, veal,
pork, lamb, mutton, horse and goat.”
The report said grilling, pan-frying or other
high-temperature methods of cooking red meat produce the highest amounts of
chemicals suspected to cause cancer.
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