WHO: Processed Meat — Including Bacon — Linked To Cancer

Processed meats warning. File photo dated 27/08/14 of sausages, bacon and egg being fried. Global health experts have found that processed meat such as hot dogs, ham and sausages can cause bowel cancer. Issue date: M... Processed meats warning. File photo dated 27/08/14 of sausages, bacon and egg being fried. Global health experts have found that processed meat such as hot dogs, ham and sausages can cause bowel cancer. Issue date: Monday October 26, 2015. Red meat is also "probably" carcinogenic, with associations mainly with bowel cancer, but also with pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report. See PA story HEALTH Meat. Photo credit should read: Nick Ansell/PA Wire URN:24551680 MORE LESS
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PARIS (AP) — The World Health Organization’s cancer agency says that processed meats such as ham and sausage can lead to colon and other cancers, and red meat is probably cancer-causing as well.

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

Based on that evaluation, they classified processed meat as “carcinogenic to humans” — in the same category as cigarettes — and red meat as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

Meat industry groups protest the classification, arguing that cancer is not caused by specific foods but by several factors.

Doctors and many government agencies have long warned that a diet loaded with red meat is linked to cancers, including of the colon and pancreas.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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