Report Finds Processed Meats Linked To Cancer; Red Meat Risky Too
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- It's official: Ham, sausage and other processed meats can lead to colon, stomach and other cancers -- and red meat is probably cancer-causing, too.
While doctors have long warned against eating too much meat, the World Health Organization's cancer agency gave the most definitive response yet Monday about its relation to cancer -- and put processed meats in the same danger category as cigarettes or asbestos.
A group of 22 scientists from the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France evaluated more than 800 studies from several continents about meat and cancer.
"These findings further support current public health recommendations to limit intake of meat," says Dr, Christopher Wild, Director of IARC. "At the same time, red meat has nutritional value. Therefore, these results are important in enabling governments and international regulatory agencies to conduct risk assessments, in order to balance the risk s and benefits of eating red meat and processed meat and to provide the best possible dietary recommendations."
Based on that evaluation, they classified processed meat as "carcinogenic to humans'' and red meat as "probably carcinogenic.''
Meat industry groups protest the classification. The North American Meat Institute is calling the report "dramatic and alarmist" - and argues that cancer is a complex disease "not caused by single foods."
But the WHO says it has hard evidence that came from the evaluation of 8-hundred studies from several continents about meat and cancer.
New Yorkers said while it's important to be careful, you have to live your life too.
"Everything out there is going to kill us eventually so you just have to enjoy life as healthy as you possibly can and once in a while just indulge in things like bacon and other things that aren't good for you," a man named Tom told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck. "Once in a while a good steak and a cigar is the best thing in the world."
"I don't think it's that bad, and I still like it," a man named Wayne said. "I'm not going to pay any attention to it."
"Bacon is God's gift to us," another man said.
Doctors have warned that a diet loaded with red meat is linked to cancers, including those of the colon and pancreas. The American Cancer Society has long urged people to reduce consumption of red meat and processed meat.
What makes unprocessed red meat riskier is grilling, pan-frying or cooking at high heat -- that produces suspected carcinogens, CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reported.
But the risk from red meat is hard to separate from other lifestyle factors like smoking or exercise that also affect cancer risk.
As CBS2's Dick Brennan reported, the North American Meat Institute called the report "dramatic and alarmist" and argued that cancer is a complex disease "not caused by single foods."
"What we see in reports like this is that they confuse us, it's easy to build a healthy diet with foods like these, and there is nothing in this report that should confuse us," Shaleyne McNeill said.
The bottom line is moderation.
Unadulterated red meat, meaning not processed, has high-quality protein, iron and B-vitamins.
The researchers defined processed meat as anything transformed to improve its flavor or preserve it - including salting, curing or smoking.
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