Processed meats cause cancer, says WHO

Processed meats cause cancer, says WHO
By Keith Walker
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The World Health Organization (WHO) says processed meat is “carcinogenic to humans” putting sausages in the same category as asbestos and cigarettes

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The World Health Organization (WHO) says processed meat is “carcinogenic to humans” putting sausages in the same category as asbestos and cigarettes.

Researchers from the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France, released an evaluation of more than 800 studies from several continents about meat and cancer.

The IARC report declared red meat such as beef, lamb and pork as slightly less dangerous, but “probably” in the same cancer-causing risk group.

“It has gathered a large body of evidence from scientists around the world, if you like, and they’ve examined the information and it does look rather bleak,” said Linda Johnston, Nutritionist. “It looks like these processed foods and red meats certainly are very strongly-linked, put it that way, to certain types of cancer.”

The report found links mainly with bowel cancer. It also noted associations with pancreatic and prostate cancer.

It cited an estimate that 34,000cancer deaths a year are attributable to diets high in processed meat.

That could make the traditional fried breakfast a thing of the past.

Bacon and other processed meats cause cancer, says World Health Organization https://t.co/BQ03aGb75Cpic.twitter.com/hFSfgQMh2I

— The Verge (@verge) October 26, 2015

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