Cured meat as 'toxic as smoking' - your thoughts??

[loobylifts]

Hello whole30-ers! 

 

If you're from the UK like me, i'm sure you've seen the most recent headline news claiming that bacon and other processed meats are as bad as - if not worse - than smoking. I just wanted to get some opinions from you guys! 

I feel like the meats in question are the cheaper options with more added nasties and the consumption rate needed for these to be so dangerous must be higher than moderate. I just thought it would be interesting to see what you think! 

 

Here's one of the covering articles if you want to read: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11950018/Bacon-ham-and-sausages-as-big-a-cancer-threat-as-smoking-WHO-to-warn.html

[Loulabelle]

For me the source of the meat is important in this debate. If you know where your meat has come from, what it has been fed and importantly not fed, what are the curing ingredients etc then I personally believe there is no harm in eating cured meats. Another reason to support local farmers and buy direct.  

[ultrarunnergirl]

Here's a closer look at the details they don't mention:

 

http://www.zoeharcombe.com/2015/10/world-health-organisation-meat-cancer/

 

Perhaps most eye-catching in the article: "the baseline for the processed meat eaters showed that they were far less active, had a higher BMI, were THREE TIMES more likely to smoke and almost TWICE as likely to have diabetes. This makes processed meat a MARKER of an unhealthy person, not a MAKER of an unhealthy person."

 

The study also relied on subjects to report how often they ate what, which is notoriously unreliable.

[Carlaccini]

Also as the Paleo mom explained (author of The Paleo Approach) - vegetable consumption does matter.  

[berrybird]

We know that eating meat generally (and likely processed meat in particular) increases the risk of particular types of bowl and rectal cancer. On average, people who eat diets rich in meat get those types of cancer more often than people who eat diets with little meat. That has caused the WHO to put processed meat in the "Category 1" of "known cancer-causing substances" because - while they don't fully understand the process - there is little doubt that something about a processed meat-rich diet contributes to those forms of cancer developing in some individuals.

 

However, just because processed meat and cigarettes are both "Category 1" carcinogens doesn't mean that bacon = cigarettes. It just means that they are a risk factor, but not at all comparable in terms of effect. The stories suggesting that processed meat is "as dangerous as smoking" are not just misleading but factually, totally wrong. Eating *daily* cured/red meat in substantial quantities would create a marked increase in your likelihood of getting bowel cancer - making it about twice as likely. On the other hand, smoking causes a 20-times increase in your likelihood of getting lung cancer.
 

Really, the takeaway from this should be (and I'm not a nutritionist - I'm a scientist by trade, but not in terms of health/nutrition, so I can analyze the study but hardly give serious nutrition advice) basically what common sense nutrition already suggests - don't eat cured or red meat all the time, and eat a variety of protein sources including fish, chicken, turkey, eggs, etc.

[Erica Gucc]

any studies showing grass fed or organic meats put you at a lesser risk than non-organic or non-grass fed?

[Carlaccini]

Good Article here:

 

http://www.wired.com/2015/10/who-does-bacon-cause-cancer-sort-of-but-not-really/

 

and here:

 

http://www.thepaleomom.com/2015/08/the-link-between-meat-and-cancer.html

[MeadowLily]

Grass-fed vs. Grain-fed.  Livestock that's been finished with grains.   Grains have been used to finish cattle and prize hogs for a long time.   We use oats for horses and corn for cattle and corn/wheat mixture for hogs.

 

Grains fatten up the livestock.  Works the same way with people.

 

Grass-fed is best but many can't afford or find it.  Do the best with what you have.