The World Health Organisation (WHO) have recently claimed that processed meats such as bacon, sausages and ham can cause you cancer.
The report claimed that consuming more than 50g of processed meat a day – which equates to around 2 slices of bacon – increased the change of people developing colorectal cancer by 18%.
This is in fact a real finding but what should we make of it?
The main thing is to remember that although this is a real finding, it’s a narrow finding that hasn’t just come to the surface. In fact links between certain types of meat and some forms of cancer – notably bowel cancer – isn’t ‘new’ news. The evidence surrounding this study has been building for decades, and is supported by a lot of careful research.
First of all, it’s important to understand the definition of what the study is saying.
Cancer Research have highlighted the difference between the meats highlighted in the study, and their definitions are as follows:
‘Red’ meat is (as you might expect), any meat that’s a dark red colour before it’s cooked – this obviously means meats like beef and lamb, but also includes pork.
‘Processed’ meat is meat that’s not sold fresh, but instead has been cured, salted, smoked, or otherwise preserved in some way (so things like bacon, sausages, hot dogs, ham, salami, and pepperoni). But this doesn’t include fresh burgers or mince.
The WHO’s study didn’t claim that if you eat any sort of meat then you can cause yourself to get all or any kinds of cancer. And it also didn’t claim that processed meat is just as, or even more dangerous than smoking, or anything else linked to cancer. The conclusions from the study were a lot narrower in that they have to do with cancer (mainly colon and rectal cancers) and meat.
According to Cancer Research, in 2011 scientists estimated that around 3 in every hundred cancers in the UK were due to eating too much red and processed meat (that’s around 8,800 cases every year). This compares against 64,500 cases every year caused by smoking (or 19 per cent of all cancers).
They’ve also said that none of this means that a single meat-based meal is ‘bad for you’. What it does mean, however, is that eating large amounts of red and processed meat, over a long period of time, is probably not the best approach if you’re aiming to live a long and healthy life. Meat is fine in moderation. Cancer Research have said that it certainly is a very good source of some nutrients which you need – including protein, iron and zinc. It’s just about being sensible, and not eating too much, too often.
So fear not, you’re free to eat a bacon sandwich every once in a while without worrying about the long-term state of your health.
Photo by: Kjetil Ree