Meat and Cancer: What’s the Risk?
Processed meats like sausage, ham, jerky, bacon, and cold cuts cause cancer, and red meat probably does, too, according to a new report.
October 26, 2015
The report comes from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization that brings together scientific experts to identify things that can cause cancer. The panel that worked on the statement pored over more than 800 scientific studies to make its recommendation.
This group has been issuing these statements since the 1970s, and so far, they’ve classified almost 1,000 different kinds of things we come in contact with -- from chemicals to foods to particles in air pollution. Substances are classified on a 5-tier scale:
- Group 1: Carcinogenic -- causes cancer
- Group 2A: Probably causes cancer
- Group 2B: Possibly causes cancer
- Group 3: Can’t tell -- not enough evidence
- Group 4: Doesn’t cause cancer
Processed meat is in group 1, and red meat is in group 2A, the IARC says.
Processed meats have long been linked to certain cancers of the digestive tract, especially colorectal and stomach cancers. So the IARC’s classification isn’t really surprising, but it does give the connection new weight.
“They are the definitive authority on the subject,” says David Katz, MD, founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, in New Haven, CT.
“We’ve been advising against processed meat for a long time,” Katz says. “This is icing on that cake. I think it is important icing, just the same, but the cake was well baked before this report came out.”
Scientists can’t say exactly how much meat is too much, and the overall increase in risk is small. But they point out that your risk rises the more you eat.
Beef producers say the evidence behind the guidelines is weak at best. They point out that the 22 members of the panel that issued the recommendation were not in total agreement.
“Cancer is a complex disease that even the best and brightest minds don’t fully understand,” says Shalene McNeill, PhD, RD, executive director of human nutrition research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
“Billions of dollars have been spent on studies all over the world, and no single food has ever been proven to cause or cure cancer,” she says in a statement posted on the group’s web site.
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"When meat is on the menu, the American Cancer Society recommends baking, broiling, or poaching, rather than frying or charbroiling, to reduce the formation of cancer-causing chemicals during the cooking process."
So much for the BBQ grill.
Killjoys.
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On ABC World News tonight, some doctor brought in to comment on the story said , that if a person was to eat one hot dog and one piece of bacon a day , for the rest of their life, their odds of developing colon cancer at some point in their lives would rise from a 5 percent chance to a 6 percent chance.
I don't think this news will cause a mass exodus from bacon.
Who eats one piece of bacon?
Who eats it every day ?
Anyone who can.
I agree with you. TV doctors and personalities don't understand risk.
"I agree with you. TV doctors and personalities don't understand risk"
You agree with who?
Please get in the habit of posting a "quote" from the comment you're responding to.
"I don't think this news will cause a mass exodus from bacon."
People like bacon so much I don't a revelation that bacon contained arsenic would cause a mass exodus from bacon.
I watched this story being covered on the mainstream news channels, then I received the story on my WebMD feed, so I figured it was worth posting in the NT 'Health Science and Technology' section.
Processed meat does not "cause" cancer. At best, it very slightly affects aggregate risk. You know what causes cancer? Living.
You know what causes cancer? Living.
Every once in a while one of your one liners is notable.
Like that one for instance.
The next thing we're going to hear is that water can cause cancer.
I remember in the 1980's when Bacon was said to caused cancer...until it wasn't. Back then eating eggs was going to cause you to have a heart attack...until they didn't.
I love to make a hamburger steak (basically a large patty) and fry it medium. Melt cheese on it and chow down, about once a month. I rarely eat processed meats, mostly because I don't care for most of them. Every few months I'll enjoy a T-Bone broiled and would keep doing so if they said it will definitely give me cancer when I'm old. I eat what I like to eat because I like to eat it.
You're going to die. Every person on Earth is terminal. No one get's out of here alive. Live your life and enjoy it!
"You're going to die. Every person on Earth is terminal. No one get's out of here alive. Live your life and enjoy it!"
I've been seen on my porch in a snowstorm smokin' a T-bone, and all I've said to the WTFers' is, " grab a beer, sit down and shut up, this will be done in a minute! "
I have never paid any attention to all the "do's and don't" regarding 'healthy diet", I just post these news reports and leave all that bullshit for you kids to figure out.
Meantime I go about breaking every rule in the book regarding all that 'balanced diet' bullshit, and at age 76 I'm still above ground and vertical. So, although there is probably a certain amount of truth to the findings of the scientist, I think those findings should be taken with a 'grain of salt'. (or a whole tablespoon of salt if you think it will taste better that way)
Excuse me, I have to go grab me some hot cherry peppers stuffed with provolone cheese and prosciutto. Mmmmm ... aah! That's good stuff!