Why does the leading cancer and diet authority recommend we avoid bacon, ham, hot dogs, sausage, and all other processed meats—including chicken and turkey?
How Much Cancer Does Lunch Meat Cause?
4.7/5 - (51 votes)
How many years of life are lost to potentially preventable cancers? Every year, more than five million expected years of life are lost to lung cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer alone. Therefore, identifying and improving strategies for prevention of cancer remains a priority, especially since not more than 2% of all human cancer is attributable to purely genetic factors. The rest involve external factors such as our diet.
The most comprehensive summary of evidence on diet and cancer ever compiled recommends we should eat mostly foods of plant origin to help prevent cancer. This means centering one’s diet around plant foods. Not just whole grains and beans every day, but every meal.
And, when it came to foods that may increase cancer risk, they were similarly bold. Unlike many other dietary guidelines that wimp out, and just advise people to “moderate” their intake of bad foods, like eat less candy. The cancer guidelines didn’t mince words when it came to the worst of the worst. For example, don’t just minimize soda intake, avoid it. Don’t just cut back on bacon, ham, hot dogs, sausage, and lunch meats, but avoid processed meats, period, because data do not show any level of intake that can confidently be shown not to be associated with risk.
Processed meat cannot only be thought of as a powerful multi-organ carcinogen, but may increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Red meat was bad, but processed meat was worse, and that included white meat, like chicken and turkey slices. So, with more heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, it’s no surprise processed meat consumption has been associated with increased risk of death.
In Europe, they calculated that reduction of processed meat consumption to less than 1/4 a hot dog a day [sic – – should be half a hot dog] would prevent more than 3% of all deaths.
This was the second largest prospective study ever done on diet and cancer, a study of more than 400,000 people. The largest ever, 600,000, was done here in the US, the AARP study. They found the preventable fraction to be much higher, suggesting, for example, that 20% of heart disease deaths among women could be averted if the highest consumers cut down to like less than a half strip of bacon a day.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- P H Liu , J D Wang, N L Keating NL. Expected years of life lost for six potentially preventable cancers in the United States. Prev Med. 2013 May;56(5):309-13.
- J S Bertram, L N Kolonel, F L Meyskens Jr. Rationale and strategies for chemoprevention of cancer in humans. Cancer Res. 1987 Jun 1;47(11):3012-31.
- World Cancer Research Fund , American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, nutrition, physical activity, and the prevention of cancer: A global perspective. Chapter 12: Public health goals and personal recommendations.
- Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective
- E De Stefani, P Boffetta, A L Ronco, H Deneo-Pellegrini, P Correa, G Acosta, M Mendilaharsu, M E Luaces, C Silva. Processed meat consumption and risk of cancer: a multisite case-control study in Uruguay. Br J Cancer. 2012 Oct 23;107(9):1584-8.
- S C Larsson, N Orsini. Red meat and processed meat consumption and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis. Am J Epidemiol. 2014 Feb 1;179(3):282-9.
- R Sinha, A J Cross, B I Graubard, M F Leitzmann, A Schatzkin. Meat intake and mortality: a prospective study of over half a million people. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Mar 23;169(6):562-71.
- S Rohrmann, K Overvad, H B Bueno-de-Mesquita, M U Jakobsen, R Egeberg, A Tjønneland, L Nailler, M C Boutron-Ruault, F Clavel-Chapelon, V Krogh, D Palli, S Panico, R Tumino, F Ricceri, M M Bergmann, H Boeing, K Li, R Kaaks, K T Khaw, N J Wareham, F L Crowe, T J Key, A Naska, A Trichopoulou, D Trichopoulos, M Leenders, P H Peeters, D Engeset, C L Parr, G Skeie, P Jakszyn, M J Sánchez, J M Huerta, M L Redondo, A Barricarte, P Amiano, I Drake, E Sonestedt, G Hallmans, I Johansson, V Fedirko, I Romieux, P Ferrari, T Norat, A C Vergnaud, E Riboli, J Linseisen. Meat consumption and mortality--results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. BMC Med. 2013 Mar 7;11:63.
- R Micha, G Michas, D Mozaffarian. Unprocessed red and processed meats and risk of coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes--an updated review of the evidence. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2012 Dec;14(6):515-24.
- 2010 Dietary Guidelines.
Images thanks to theimpulsivebuy via Flickr.
How many years of life are lost to potentially preventable cancers? Every year, more than five million expected years of life are lost to lung cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer alone. Therefore, identifying and improving strategies for prevention of cancer remains a priority, especially since not more than 2% of all human cancer is attributable to purely genetic factors. The rest involve external factors such as our diet.
The most comprehensive summary of evidence on diet and cancer ever compiled recommends we should eat mostly foods of plant origin to help prevent cancer. This means centering one’s diet around plant foods. Not just whole grains and beans every day, but every meal.
And, when it came to foods that may increase cancer risk, they were similarly bold. Unlike many other dietary guidelines that wimp out, and just advise people to “moderate” their intake of bad foods, like eat less candy. The cancer guidelines didn’t mince words when it came to the worst of the worst. For example, don’t just minimize soda intake, avoid it. Don’t just cut back on bacon, ham, hot dogs, sausage, and lunch meats, but avoid processed meats, period, because data do not show any level of intake that can confidently be shown not to be associated with risk.
Processed meat cannot only be thought of as a powerful multi-organ carcinogen, but may increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Red meat was bad, but processed meat was worse, and that included white meat, like chicken and turkey slices. So, with more heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, it’s no surprise processed meat consumption has been associated with increased risk of death.
In Europe, they calculated that reduction of processed meat consumption to less than 1/4 a hot dog a day [sic – – should be half a hot dog] would prevent more than 3% of all deaths.
This was the second largest prospective study ever done on diet and cancer, a study of more than 400,000 people. The largest ever, 600,000, was done here in the US, the AARP study. They found the preventable fraction to be much higher, suggesting, for example, that 20% of heart disease deaths among women could be averted if the highest consumers cut down to like less than a half strip of bacon a day.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Katie Schloer.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- P H Liu , J D Wang, N L Keating NL. Expected years of life lost for six potentially preventable cancers in the United States. Prev Med. 2013 May;56(5):309-13.
- J S Bertram, L N Kolonel, F L Meyskens Jr. Rationale and strategies for chemoprevention of cancer in humans. Cancer Res. 1987 Jun 1;47(11):3012-31.
- World Cancer Research Fund , American Institute for Cancer Research. Food, nutrition, physical activity, and the prevention of cancer: A global perspective. Chapter 12: Public health goals and personal recommendations.
- Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective
- E De Stefani, P Boffetta, A L Ronco, H Deneo-Pellegrini, P Correa, G Acosta, M Mendilaharsu, M E Luaces, C Silva. Processed meat consumption and risk of cancer: a multisite case-control study in Uruguay. Br J Cancer. 2012 Oct 23;107(9):1584-8.
- S C Larsson, N Orsini. Red meat and processed meat consumption and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis. Am J Epidemiol. 2014 Feb 1;179(3):282-9.
- R Sinha, A J Cross, B I Graubard, M F Leitzmann, A Schatzkin. Meat intake and mortality: a prospective study of over half a million people. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Mar 23;169(6):562-71.
- S Rohrmann, K Overvad, H B Bueno-de-Mesquita, M U Jakobsen, R Egeberg, A Tjønneland, L Nailler, M C Boutron-Ruault, F Clavel-Chapelon, V Krogh, D Palli, S Panico, R Tumino, F Ricceri, M M Bergmann, H Boeing, K Li, R Kaaks, K T Khaw, N J Wareham, F L Crowe, T J Key, A Naska, A Trichopoulou, D Trichopoulos, M Leenders, P H Peeters, D Engeset, C L Parr, G Skeie, P Jakszyn, M J Sánchez, J M Huerta, M L Redondo, A Barricarte, P Amiano, I Drake, E Sonestedt, G Hallmans, I Johansson, V Fedirko, I Romieux, P Ferrari, T Norat, A C Vergnaud, E Riboli, J Linseisen. Meat consumption and mortality--results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. BMC Med. 2013 Mar 7;11:63.
- R Micha, G Michas, D Mozaffarian. Unprocessed red and processed meats and risk of coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes--an updated review of the evidence. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2012 Dec;14(6):515-24.
- 2010 Dietary Guidelines.
Images thanks to theimpulsivebuy via Flickr.
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Title
How Much Cancer Does Lunch Meat Cause?
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
The World Health Organization recently published a report that puts chicken nuggets, deli turkey slices, bacon and other processed meats in the same category as cigarettes and asbestos: known carcinogens. According to independent research cited by the WHO, the deaths of 34,000 people from cancer every year are attributable to diets high in processed meat, in addition to the 800,000 additional deaths due to cases of diabetes and heart disease. That’s a meat-borne epidemic every year.
More on processed meat can be found in videos such as:
- How to Avoid Phosphate Additives
- Autopsy of Chicken Nuggets
- Bacon, Eggs, and Gestational Diabetes During Pregnancy
- Why Is Meat a Risk Factor for Diabetes?
- The Palatability of Cancer Prevention
- Meat Industry Reaction to New Cancer Guidelines
- How Much Cancer Does Processed Meat Cause?
- IARC: Processed Meat Like Bacon Causes Cancer
But cancer risk has been associated with unprocessed meat as well via a variety of potential mechanisms:
- PhIP: The Three Strikes Breast Carcinogen
- Meat Fumes: Dietary Secondhand Smoke
- How Many Cancers Have Been Caused by Arsenic-Laced Chicken?
- Prevent Cancer from Going on TOR
- Starving Cancer with Methionine Restriction
- Zeranol Use in Meat and Breast Cancer
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