₦airaland Forum

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Bacon, ham and sausages rank alongside cigarettes as a major cause of cancer, the World Health Organisation has said, placing cured and processed meats in the same category as asbestos, alcohol, arsenic and tobacco.

The report from the WHO’s cancer arm, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, said there is enough evidence to rank processed meats as group 1 carcinogens, because of a causal link with bowel cancer.

It places red meat in group 2A, as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. Eating red meat is also linked to pancreatic and prostate cancer, the IARC says.

The IARC’s experts concluded that each 50 gram portion of processed meat eaten daily increased the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%.

“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,” said Dr Kurt Straif, head of the IARC monographs programme. “In view of the large number of people who consume processed meat, the global impact on cancer incidence is of public health importance.”

The decision from the IARC, after a year of deliberations by international scientists, will be welcomed by cancer researchers but it triggered an immediate and furious response from the industry, and the scientists it funds, who rejected any comparison between cigarettes and meat.

“What we do know is that avoiding red meat in the diet is not a protective strategy against cancer,” said Robert Pickard, a member of the Meat Advisory Panel and emeritus professor of neurobiology at the University of Cardiff. “The top priorities for cancer prevention remain smoking cessation, maintenance of normal body weight and avoidance of high alcohol intakes.”.

But the writing has been on the wall for ham, bacon and sausages for several years. The World Cancer Research Fund has long been advising people that processed meat is a cancer hazard. It advises eating products such as ham, bacon and salami as little as possible and having no more than 500g a week of red meat, including beef, pork and lamb.

Prof Tim Key, Cancer Research UK’s epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, said: “Cancer Research UK supports IARC’s decision that there’s strong enough evidence to classify processed meat as a cause of cancer, and red meat as a probable cause of cancer.

“We’ve known for some time about the probable link between red and processed meat and bowel cancer, which is backed by substantial evidence.

“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. You could try having fish for your dinner rather than sausages, or choosing to have a bean salad for lunch over a BLT.”

The statement from the IARC, published as an article in the journal Lancet Oncology, substantially toughens the line, especially against processed meat. But while cancer scientists are concerned about the risks of eating too much meat, some nutritionists maintain that the extra risk is relatively small and that meat has other benefits.

Dr Elizabeth Lund – an independent consultant in nutritional and gastrointestinal health and a former research leader at the Institute of Food Research, who acknowledges she did some work for the meat industry in 2010 – said red meat was linked to about three extra cases of bowel cancer per 100,000 adults in developed countries.

“A much bigger risk factor is obesity and lack of exercise,” she said. “Overall, I feel that eating meat once a day combined with plenty of fruit, vegetables and cereal fibre, plus exercise and weight control, will allow for a low risk of colorectal cancer and a more balanced diet.”

Prof Ian Johnson, emeritus fellow at the Institute of Food Research, also said the effect was small. “It is certainly very inappropriate to suggest that any adverse effect of bacon and sausages on the risk of bowel cancer is comparable to the dangers of tobacco smoke, which is loaded with known chemical carcinogens and increases the risk of lung cancer in cigarette smokers by around twentyfold.”

The North American Meat Institute said defining red meat as a cancer hazard defied common sense.

“It was clear, sitting in the IARC meeting, that many of the panellists were aiming for a specific result despite old, weak, inconsistent, self-reported intake data,” said Betsy Booren, the institute’s vice-president of scientific affairs. “They tortured the data to ensure a specific outcome.

“Red and processed meat are among 940 agents reviewed by the IARC and found to pose some level of theoretical ‘hazard’. Only one substance, a chemical in yoga pants, has been declared by the IARC not to cause cancer.

“The IARC says you can enjoy your yoga class, but don’t breathe air (class 1 carcinogen), sit near a sun-filled window (class 1), apply aloe vera (class 2B) if you get a sunburn, drink wine or coffee (class 1 and class 2B), or eat grilled food (class 2A). And if you are a hairdresser or do shift work (both class 2A), you should seek a new career.”

kingsolex:
spark for Nairaland ba.

MichaelSokoto:
.

Obrizzy:
How much

HrmOlolade:
Click like if he's a senseless goat and share if he's making sense

Tolzeal:
Keep calm and learn !!! Lols

Chartey:
I'm talking about the medico thread bro. You've been MIA for some time.

Chartey:
Hahahaha no make me laugh abeg. Does anybody look at that thing anymore? That's not the rate bro.

Why people like una come allow dem those new guys just spoil our thread for education na?

stevolinkon40:
Bros forget all that exchange rate you saw. Uba is 220+ as at now..199 you saw is official dollar rate. No bank sell for that amount.

Chartey:
Even normal exchange rate sef. I guess you contacted their customer care online and they told you that. Don't mind them, many of them don't know anything.

Chinaimporter:
[size=18pt]
Change! Nigeria have truely joined the league of nations and we will no longer be portrayed as poor african but the oyibos will truely know that we have come of age and must be respected.....imagine a whole custom boss using public flight....that wont go well with our international imagr
[/size]

Tolzeal:
Eh eh !!.
This is not paypal exchange rate oo

johnydon22:
I don't really understand this.

One moment are winning the war, the next moment we are not. . . It is not good to politicize or bank on the tragedies of others to achieve political support like APC did during the campaign season.

The masses always knew that politicians making promises during campaign is like the promises a guy makes just to get a girl into bed.

We are now seeing that Boko Haram is not the fault of the previous government because am sure this present government have learnt its not about talking the talk but walking the walk.

Let us politicize this now because that will never solve our problems. People are dying every day damn it.

Let us throw away any form of political alliance or sentiment we may harbour and support this government to see (hope) if it can bring this to end.

That is the least we can do now because frankly this concerns us all not just the government...

Nigerian military are still issuing warnings when these guys are making it clear to them to shove the warnings up their Asss... why not stop this talk and selfie parade and start full military pounding.

This boko haram menace brought a whole military power like Nigeria to a Childish state...

Just negodu

sweetgala:
[s]While I may have typos, this looks and sounds like a grammatical error, the letters Y and E are two spaces apart on a qwerty keyboard.

I'm not yorrober but rather Yoruba and very proud to be, as I'd expect you to be a proud Igbo man If I may guess. This Biafra thing does not need to be forced; neither a cause for disrespect nor the proliferation of hate-speech.[/s]

I've said it for a while it is time the Igbo nation was allowed to self-determine their future, but not at the insistence of a lunatic like Nnamdi Kanu and in the insane manner he has gone on, if the Igbo got Biafra the was he intends, it would only have two eventualities

[s]1- Civil war within the new formed biafra , causing destabilization of the Nigerian entity left behind

2 - War with Nigeria

3 - Both of the above

You can carve Biafra out of Nigeria but it would be more difficult to cut the sense of entitlement to Nigeria from many assimilated Igbo.

Any Biafra discuss needs to be done with cool heads and a proposition that ensures progress for both Nigeria and Biafra

Also I'm not a graduate from University of Oshogo thou I have no doubt they have produced excellent graduates in the past and continue to develop and be successful[/s]