Processed meats cause cancer: WHO

The World Health Organisation announced yesterday that cured and processed meats like bacon, sausage, hot dogs and ham cause cancer, adding the foods to a top-tier list of carcinogenic substances that includes alcohol, cigarettes, asbestos, and arsenic, reports AFP. Sausages, ham and other processed meats cause bowel cancer, and red meat ‘probably’ does too, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of WHO warned Monday, in a potentially heavy blow for the fast-growing livestock industry.
A review of 800 studies from around the world found "sufficient evidence in humans that the consumption of processed meat causes colorectal cancer," said. The finding, it added, supports "recommendations to limit intake of meat" -- particularly in processed forms.
The category includes meat that has been salted, cured, fermented or smoked -- hot dogs, sausages, corned beef, dried meat like beef jerky or South African biltong, canned meat or meat-based sauces.
For every 50 grammes (1.8 ounces) of meat eaten on a daily basis, the population-wide risk of developing colon cancer was 18 percent higher, said the agency.
This meant enlarging the group of people likely to develop bowel cancer in their lifetime from six to seven out of every 100 who eat a three-rasher bacon sandwich every single day, explained statistician David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University, who was not involved in the study. The IARC agreed the cancer risk was statistically "small", but "increases with the amount of meat consumed."
For unprocessed red meat -- beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse or goat, the review found "strong" evidence of a link, but not convincing enough to place it in the group of confirmed cancer-causing agents which includes tobacco smoke, asbestos, and now also salami.
The agency cited research attributing about 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide to diets high in processed meat.
This was dwarfed by the estimated one million cancer deaths attributed to tobacco smoking, 600,000 to alcohol use, and more than 200,000 to air pollution every year, said the agency.

Processed meats cause cancer: WHO

The World Health Organisation announced yesterday that cured and processed meats like bacon, sausage, hot dogs and ham cause cancer, adding the foods to a top-tier list of carcinogenic substances that includes alcohol, cigarettes, asbestos, and arsenic, reports AFP. Sausages, ham and other processed meats cause bowel cancer, and red meat probably does too, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of WHO warned Monday, in a potentially heavy blow for the fast-growing livestock industry. A review of 800 studies from around the world found sufficient evidence in humans that the consumption of processed meat causes colorectal cancer, said. The finding, it added, supports recommendations to limit intake of meat -- particularly in processed forms. The category includes meat that has been salted, cured, fermented or smoked -- hot dogs, sausages, corned beef, dried meat like beef jerky or South African biltong, canned meat or meat-based sauces. For every 50 grammes (1.8 ounces) of meat eaten on a daily basis, the population-wide risk of developing colon cancer was 18 percent higher, said the agency. This meant enlarging the group of people likely to develop bowel cancer in their lifetime from six to seven out of every 100 who eat a three-rasher bacon sandwich every single day, explained statistician David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University, who was not involved in the study. The IARC agreed the cancer risk was statistically small, but increases with the amount of meat consumed. For unprocessed red meat -- beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse or goat, the review found strong evidence of a link, but not convincing enough to place it in the group of confirmed cancer-causing agents which includes tobacco smoke, asbestos, and now also salami. The agency cited research attributing about 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide to diets high in processed meat. This was dwarfed by the estimated one million cancer deaths attributed to tobacco smoking, 600,000 to alcohol use, and more than 200,000 to air pollution every year, said the agency.