UPDATE: November 2, 2015 at 12:40 p.m.
After receiving a flood of questions, comments, concerns, and queries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has slightly retracted the findings in the International Agency for Research on Cancer report that linked processed meats like bacon to colorectal cancer. In a statement on the organization's website, WHO states that the latest IARC review does not ask people to stop eating processed meats but instead "indicates that reducing consumption of these products can reduce the risk of colorectal cancer."
It also goes on to emphasize that during early 2016, the organization will be looking at the public health implications of this report as well as the place of processed meat and red meat within the context of an overall healthy diet. That last part is key here: an overall healthy diet, not one riddled with bacon every morning and burgers every night. We think the main takeaway here is moderation—both in your diet and news judgment. If you have more questions regarding this study, you can parse through the FAQ or email WHO spokesman Gregory Härtl at hartlg@who.int.
ORIGINAL POST: October 26, 2015 at 10:35 a.m.
Bad news, carnivores. A major new report claims that all your favorite foods—we're talking bacon, sausages, hot dogs, and even steak—likely cause cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a division of the World Health Organization, convened 22 experts from 10 countries to evaluate the cancer risk from a variety of foods. They looked at over 800 studies that investigated meat's connection to more than a dozen types of cancer. Their results were published in the journal The Lancet.
The researchers found that red meat (which includes beef, pork, lamb, horse, and goat) was probably carcinogenic, associated with colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancer. It was even worse for processed meat, like hot dogs, corned beef, and bacon, which was flat-out classified as carcinogenic to humans, linked to colorectal and stomach cancer. The panel says that the act of cooking and processing the meat is probably what introduces cancer-causing chemicals, but they didn't measure the risks of eating meat raw.
According to the panel, for every extra 50 grams of processed meat consumed a day, the risk of colorectal cancer increases by 18 percent. For every additional 100 grams of red meat, the risk goes up by 17 percent. The scientists maintain that your risk of getting cancer from processed meats is small, but it does go up if you eat more.
Many public health groups have long cautioned that red meat could be linked to cancer, but none have used such strong language. The Washington Post notes that the panel's decision to label the meats as cancer-causing was not unanimous. And naturally, meat producers disagree, saying there is no connection. The North American Meat Institute released a statement saying the results "defy both common sense and dozens of studies showing no correlation between meat and cancer and other studies showing the many health benefits of balanced diets that include meat."
In general, it's extremely difficult to prove anything causes cancer, since doing so would require a decades-long study where one group would eat lots of meat and the other would abstain entirely. The researchers didn't give any advice to consumers, but the American Cancer Society recommends cutting back on red and processed meats and opting for vegetables and fish instead.
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