I estimate the risk of colon and rectal cancer from eating bacon, ham, hot dogs, sausage, and luncheon meats.
In 2018, arguably the most influential cancer research body in the world, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization, was published Its report on processed meats concluded that foods such as bacon, ham, hot dogs, lunch meats and sausages cause cancer and classified processed meats as a group 1 carcinogen. “These findings” concluded agency director, “further support existing public health recommendations to limit meat consumption.” Critics was asked putting processed meat in the same carcinogenic classification as asbestos and tobacco. Or, as a pesticide company approx put How can eating processed meat be in the same category as mustard gas?
As I discuss in my video How much cancer does processed meat cause?classifications only to associate to the strength of the evidence that an agent causes cancer or not, not so much cancer. This does not mean that all of them pose same level of risk. It’s safer to eat a sandwich full of pastrami than plutonium, even though they’re both group 1 carcinogens, meaning both substances are known to cause cancer in humans. So how dangerous is meat? Relative risk of colon cancer was 18% for every 50 grams per day. But what does this mean?
Well, 50 grams is about one hot dog, or two breakfast links, or two slices of Canadian bacon or ham. So a sandwich with one or two slices of baloney per day increases the risk of colon cancer by 18%. But half a pound of pastrami on rye makes it all the more 80%. OK, but what does an 18% increased risk mean? One way to view is in it absolute risk versus relative risk. Assuming your risk of colon cancer is about 5% (1 in 20), increasing your risk by about 20% only increases your absolute risk of developing colon cancer by 5% to 6%. Now, on a population scale, an 18% reduction in risk can be achieved meaning There would be about 25,000 fewer cases of colon cancer in the United States each year, 25,000 fewer families dealing with the diagnosis, if we swapped our daily baloney sandwiches for hummus or opted for vegetarian dogs instead. So it all depends on how you look at it.
Colorectal cancer is In the United States, cancer is the second leading cause of death for both men and women after lung cancer. So if you don’t smoke, colon and rectal cancer can be your worst enemy. But we can throw away the risk of getting it is about a fifth with one dietary adjustment: cutting one serving of processed meat out of our daily diet.
How about an 18% increase in cancer risk compared to other risky behaviors? In my testimony before the Dietary Guidelines Scientific Committee, I said something that might sound like a hyperbolic metaphor. I asked, “We try not to smoke around our kids, why are we sending them to school with baloney sandwiches?” This is not hyperbole. According to the Surgeon General, living with a smoker increases increases the risk of lung cancer by 15%. So, breathing in secondhand smoke every day increases your risk of lung cancer, just as eating a piece of processed meat every day increases your risk of colon cancer.
The meat industry responded that we should weigh the risks against the benefits before telling people what to eat or breathe. Think of all the benefits of baloney – lunch meat isn’t just about cancer, it’s about convenience.
In fact, processed meats aren’t just about cancer. Article shelter against the World Health Organization’s “meat terrorism” cited the Global Burden of Disease study, which shows how many cancer deaths occur from consuming processed meat compared to tobacco or alcohol. But if you view According to the studies they cite, the roughly 37,000 deaths linked to higher consumption of processed meat are just colon cancer deaths, and don’t include the 100,000 deaths from diabetes or the 400,000 deaths from heart disease. So basically, we could be talking about half a million deaths related to processed meat, as you can see below and at 4:06 in my video.
And it’s not just colon and rectal cancer. If you view In science since the IARC decision was published, processed meat may also increase the risk of prostate cancer, breast cancer, and pancreatic cancer.
Unfortunately, research shows that “despite growing public health concerns about processed meat consumption, there has been no change in the amount of processed meat consumed by US adults over the past 18 years.” Of course, it would have helped if the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans had mentioned that processed meat is a carcinogen. Publishing A “clear, science-based statement on processed meat” in the next Dietary Guidelines will certainly help. But the scientific committee is made there is no such recommendation.
Unfortunately, even those who have colon cancer “barely improve their general lifestyle after diagnosis, “although it may to be because “70% of cancer patients have never sought advice from their (medical) providers during or after treatment.” It just drives me nuts.
Article was published stated in a scientific journal of cancer research that “although the meat industry continues to address this issue – they have learned well from the tobacco marketers – meat should continue to be at the center of public health activities.” It’s New York leads way, passing a law banning processed meat from school meals. Not giving our kids carcinogens? What a concept!
At the same time, the meat processing industry try to reformulate its products. It’s kind of like the pharmaceutical industry, where you try to reduce the potential side effects of a drug by prescribing an additional drug. For example, fiber can be added to hot dogs to try to balance the risk, presumably cut back burden of cancer by changing the way it is processed rather than banning processed meat.
Dr.’s comment
If you missed the previous video, check it out IARC: Processed meat causes cancer like bacon.
For my full testimonial on the US Dietary Guidelines, check out Highlights from listening to the 2020 Diet Guidelines.
