The World Health Organization now says that eating processed meat does cause cancer and that even eating unprocessed red meat can be carcinogenic.
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Processed meat, however, was found to be “carcinogenic to humans (Group 1)”, based on sufficient evidence.
Experts found that each 50 gram portion of processed meat eaten daily increases a person’s risk by 18%.
The former case can be through curing, smoking or adding preservatives and salt. While most processed meats are generally pork or beef, they may also contain poultry or meat by-products such as blood. The report reportedly includes meat that has been salted, cured, fermented or smoked-hot dogs, sausages, corned beef, dried meat like beef jerky or South African biltong, canned meat or meat-based sauces.
The meat industry protested the classification, arguing that cancer isn’t caused by a specific food but also involves lifestyle and environmental factors.
Dr. Christopher Wild, Director of the IARC, said that these findings further support current public health recommendations to limit intake of meat.
Researchers looked at more than 800 studies about meat and cancer.
The panel considered animal experiments, studies of human diet and health, and cell processes that can provide an explanation for how red meat can cause cancer.
Twenty-two scientists from all over the world met and concluded that processed meat is as risky as cigarettes.
Red meat is classified as Group 2A, which is classified as probably carcinogenic to humans with limited evidence between eating it and developing cancer.
Though the risk of cancer is small, it will increase with amount of meat consumed. Processed meats are also associated with other health hazards, high risk of heart failure being one of them.
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“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”, explained Professor Tim Key, from the Cancer Research United Kingdom and the University of Oxford, according to BBC News.
