In October 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the World Health Organization, classified processed meat as a carcinogen, something that causes cancer. A report released by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund in April 2016 also concluded that eating processed meat can increase the risk of developing cancer.
Processed meat refers to meat that has been treated in some way, e.g. salting, smoking, curing or fermenting. Processed meat includes hot dogs, bacon, luncheon meat (SPAM), sausage, ham, salami and pastrami.
It turns out that eating 50 grams of processed meat every day increases the risk of colorectal cancer and stomach cancer by 18%. That’s the equivalent of about 2 strips of bacon or 1 hot dog.
Though an occasional hot dog or pastrami sandwich won’t likely cause much harm, try to choose beans, poultry and fish more often than processed meat for your source of protein.
SOURCE: from http://www.cancer.org- Carcinogenicity of consumption of red and processed meat. Published early online October 26, 2015 in The Lancet Oncology. First author Veronique Bouvard, International Agency for Research on Cancer Monograph Working Group, Lyon, France.
Dr. Ardyce Yik ND 