“For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal (bowel) cancer due to their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed”, Dr Kurt Straif of the IARC said in a statement.
Advertisement
But this is too high, according to the WHO’s announcement today and the Government may now revise it down.
WHO’s cancer research agency, the global Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), formed a working group of 22 experts from 10 different countries to investigate the carcinogenicity of processed meat and red meat.
Meat has become a scapegoat, according to Roger Leicester, Director of Endoscopy at St George’s Hospital and director of the SW London Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.
Eating red meat is “probably” likely to cause cancer, while processed meat is a definite carcinogen, United Nations health experts announced Monday.
The researchers also found that red meat could be a possible cause of cancer, saying that there is a “strong mechanistic evidence supporting [red meat has] a carcinogenic effect”.
What is a problem is how people cook – because if you burn anything it produces pyrolysins and we know these cause mutations of the colonic cells. They say it could cause cancer.
A new report by a reliable institution numerous people I talked to said is all fluff, and no meat.
“We don’t use any chemicals in our smoking, all of our meat is smoked with hickory, and we specifically in our smoking process burn the wood prior to smoking so we burn off anything that could be on the wood so we get a real clean smoke on our meat”, Will Carter, owner of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, said. That doesn’t mean salami is as bad as cigarettes, but it does mean that there’s a confirmed link to cancer.
The Australian meat industry’s research and development corporation, Meat and Livestock Australia, said “promoting red meat as part of a healthy, balanced diet is important”.
And they could hurt the American meat industry, which is arguing vigorously against linking their products with cancer, contending that the disease also involves lifestyle and environmental factors.
The results aren’t that shocking in the US, where many parents fret over chemicals in cured meats and the American Cancer Society has long cautioned against eating too much steak and deli.
However, not everyone is happy with what World Health Organization is saying.
Processed meats include anything with a few sort of preservative, like salt, smoking or curing.
Are certain types of meat processing less unsafe than others?
The North American Meat Institute (NAMI) said the report defied “both common sense and dozens of studies showing no correlation between meat and cancer”.
‘Risks and benefits must be considered together before telling people what to eat, drink, drive, breathe, or where to work’. By contrast, processed meat “contributes a much more modest risk”, he says.
Advertisement
Meat: A staple in many meals.
