Bacon and Other Processed Meat Can Cause Cancer

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) recent revelation about processed meat is certainly bad news for meat lovers worldwide.

The organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has reclassified processed meats such as bacons, hams, and sausages into “Group 1” or “carcinogenic to humans”.

This new classification indicates that there is “sufficient evidence in humans” that consuming large quantities raises the risk of colorectal (bowel) cancer.

According to the IARC report, consuming 50g of processed meat or about two slices of bacon each day raises your risk of colorectal cancer by 18%.

Red meat, on the other hand, was listed as “probably carcinogenic to humans”.

Cancer Research UK reports that 64 out of 100,000 people develop colorectal cancer annually. Taken roughly, the report suggests that consuming 50g of bacon every day would increase your risk from 64 in 100,000 to 72 in 100,000, or from 0.064% to 0.072%.

Meanwhile, the NHS says that a person’s risk over a lifetime is about 5%.

This will be raised to about 6% if you consume 50g of processed meat a day.

“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 explained.

Tobacco and asbestos, which are well-known cancer-causing substances, are also included in Group 1.

But experts reminded that this does not mean that eating processed meat is equally dangerous as smoking cigarettes.

Studies on cancer and smoking showed that individuals who smoke 25 cigarettes a day were 24 times more at risk of developing lung cancer, or about 2,400% increase.

“The effect is much smaller than, for example, that of cigarette smoking on the risk of lung cancer,” said Dr. Ian Johnson of the Institute of Food Research.

Although the new information may scare people from consuming red and processed meat, Prof. Tim Key of the UK’s Cancer Research at the University of Oxford recommends cutting down intake of these meats by replacing with healthier options.

“This decision doesn’t mean you need to stop eating any red and processed meat. But if you eat lots of it you may want to think about cutting down. You could try having fish for your dinner rather than sausages, or choosing to have a bean salad for lunch over a BLT,” Prof. Key suggested.

The WHO, which defines processed meat as any type of meat that is salted, cured or smoked to boost its flavour or preserve, estimates that about 34,000 cancer deaths annually worldwide can be associated with diets high in processed meat.

Watch the informative video below.

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