(26 Oct 2015) Hot dogs, bacon, cold cuts and other processed meats raise the risk of colon, stomach and other cancers, and red meat probably contributes to the disease, too, the World Health Organization said on Monday, throwing its considerable authority behind what many doctors have been warning for years.
WHO’s cancer agency analyzed decades of research on the subject and issued its most definitive statement yet, putting processed meats in the same danger category as smoking or asbestos.
That doesn’t mean, though, that salami is as bad as cigarettes.
The meat industry protested the classification, arguing that cancer isn’t caused by a specific food but also involves lifestyle and environmental factors.
Italian grocery store owner and prosciutto maker Palma Pazienza said she has been eating processed meat all her life and the recent research will not change her diet.
The researchers defined processed meat as anything transformed to improve its flavour or to preserve it, including sausages, canned meat, beef jerky and anything smoked.
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