PARIS (AP) -- 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 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, though that doesn't mean,
say, 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.
A group of 22 scientists from the WHO's International Agency
for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, evaluated more than 800 studies from
several continents about meat and cancer. The studies looked at more than a
dozen types of cancer in populations with diverse diets over the past 20 years.
Based on that evaluation, the IARC classified processed meat
as "carcinogenic to humans," noting links in particular to colon
cancer. It said red meat contains some important nutrients, but still labeled
it "probably carcinogenic," with links to colon, prostate and
pancreatic cancers.
The agency said it did not have enough data to define how
much processed meat is too dangerous, but said the risk grows with the amount
consumed. Analysis of 10 of the studies suggested that a 50-gram portion of
processed meat daily — or about 1.75 ounces — increases the risk of colorectal
cancer over a lifetime by about 18 percent.
An ounce and three-quarters is roughly equivalent to a hot
dog or a couple of slices of bologna, though it depends on how thinly it is
sliced.
"For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal
cancer because of 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. "In view of the large number of people who
consume processed meat, the global impact on cancer incidence is of public
health importance."
The cancer agency noted research by the Global Burden of
Disease Project suggesting that 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide are
linked to diets heavy in processed meat — compared with 1 million deaths a year
linked to smoking, 600,000 a year to alcohol consumption and 200,000 a year to
air pollution.
WHO's findings can influence public health recommendations
around the globe.
Doctors in rich countries especially have long warned that a
diet loaded with red meat is linked to cancers, including those of the colon
and pancreas. The American Cancer Society has long urged people to eat less red
meat and processed meat.
Overall, the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer
is about 1 in 20, or about 5 percent, according to the cancer society. This
risk is slightly lower in women than in men.
The WHO researchers defined processed meat as anything
transformed to improve its flavor or to preserve it, including sausages, canned
meat, beef jerky and anything smoked. They defined red meat as "all types
of mammalian muscle meat, such as beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse and
goat."
The report said grilling, pan-frying or other
high-temperature methods of cooking red meat produce the highest amounts of
chemicals suspected of causing cancer.
Ian Johnson, a nutrition researcher with the Institute of
Food Research who is unconnected to the IARC findings, said meat consumption is
one of many factors contributing to high rates of bowel cancer in the U.S.,
western Europe and Australia.
"The mechanism is poorly understood, and the effect is
much smaller than, for example, that of cigarette smoking on the risk of lung
cancer," he said.
The North American Meat Institute argued in a statement that
"cancer is a complex disease not caused by single foods" and stressed
the importance of lifestyle and environmental factors
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