“Bacon & Sausages Cause Cancer”- WHO
You might want to think twice about adding bacon or sausage to any meal. Processed meats are now classed as a carcinogen.
Much to the entire (well…most) of the worlds devastation, The International Agency of Research Cancer (IARC), part of WHO (World Health Organisation), has released a report that reclassifies processed meats into “Group 1”- “carcinogen to humans”.
What does this all mean?
Well, there is allegedly “sufficient evidence in humans” that the consumption of large quantities of processed meats raises the risk of bowel cancer. Red meat has been classified as “probably” carcinogenic.
So is eating red meat as bad as smoking? Not necessarily, based on the IARC report that conducted more than 800 studies across various countries. However, the report concluded that 50g of processed meat – roughly 2 slices of bacon a day- raises your risk of colorectal cancer by 18%.
So…what now?
Dr Ian Johnson, a nutrition researcher at the Institute of Research said the “Classification reflects the strength of the evidence for an affect”, not how big the effect is.
Prof Tim Key, Cancer Research UK’s epidemiologist explains that this new information does not mean people must stop the consumption of red & processed meat but rather cut down on the intake to about 70 g a day & substitute meat for fish & protein loaded vegetables on some days.
