The True Risk of Pink Meat

Cover Image by Gabriella Clare Marino via Unsplash - Approximately 4-minute read

Prior to taking courses in nutrition, I knew red meat (vs white meat like chicken, turkey, fish) was possibly linked to cancer in humans, but gave no thought to processed meats such as salami, sausage, bacon, prosciutto, deli meats, hot dogs etc. 

Links to Cancer

However the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concludes that:

Red Meat is a Group 2A carcinogen - “potential to cause cancer in humans, based on increased risk of colorectal cancer”  

whereas

Processed Meat is a Group 1 carcinogen - “which means that it is carcinogenic (or cancer-causing) to humans, based on evidence for increased risk of colorectal cancer”

Tobacco and alcohol are also considered Group 1 carcinogens. Recent research indicates a possible connection between processed meats and other cancers such as breast and ovarian. 

Nitrates, Nitrites, & New French Recommendations

The nitrates and nitrites in processed meats are two of the cancer-causing factors of concern in processed meats.

Just this month, because of the confirmed connection between processed meats and cancer, France’s national agency for food and safety (ANSES) made a recommendation to limit dietary exposure to nitrates and nitrites through “several courses of action, in particular reducing the use of nitrites as additives in delicatessen meat, noting that this should be achieved in a controlled manner in order to avoid any increase in food borne infections.”

Food manufacturers in France were fearing a total ban on nitrates and nitrites. But while the “recommendation” was welcome in comparison to a ban, accommodating the recommendation will still require a balancing act as nitrates/nitrites are used to prevent food-borne illnesses such as salmonellosis, listeriosis, and botulism.

ANSES suggest this balancing act can happen by shortening the sell-by/expiration dates and applying stricter monitoring methods of temperatures and drying time. 

ANSES also provided guidance to consumers on how to reduce their own exposure to nitrates and nitrites.

Specifically, ANSES recommends:

- consumers eat a varied and balanced diet with an emphasis on vegetables

- limit consumption of deli meat (processed meats) to 150 grams per week. 

If you consider that a regular deli sandwich, on average, includes about 85 to 113 grams of deli meat, or one hot dog is about 50 grams, your processed meat intake can quickly exceed ANSES’ 150 gram/week guidance. 

And in America. . .

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans don’t offer such clear guidance, but instead recommend “limiting” intake of processed meat.

If you’re curious about the debate regarding the potential public harm of these loose guidelines, check out this article from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Health titled “New ‘guidelines’ say continue red meat consumption habits, but recommendations contradict evidence.” 

The dietary guidelines do suggest that people replace processed or high-fat meats with beans, peas, and lentils. But how reasonable is this guidance for the standard American eater? I’m pretty sure my partner Jim would be hard pressed to eat a lentil patty for lunch instead of his usual Jimmy John’s Vito #5 sub. More reasonable guidance would be to replace processed meats with fresh white meat. For instance, instead of a ham sandwich or a hot dog, consider a sandwich of grilled chicken or turkey.

Swapping healthier substitutions for less healthy ones is ideal, but without any specific quantitative guidance we are all just told to relatively eat less of what tastes good to us, or eat beans instead.

What’s the Real Meat Risk?

Speaking of Jim. . .he’s the love of my life, and I want him around forever. So when I read the recent French recommendations I became irrationally freaked out about his processed meat consumption.

And then I came across an article from Cancer Research UK about the difference between processed meats causing cancer, and the likelihood that they will cause cancer. The article, “Bacon, salami, and sausages: how does processed and red meat cause cancer and how much matters?” provided just the rational, level-headed reminder I needed. This cool shareable link from their article says it all, but if you have a few minutes, I definitely suggest you read the article as well.

Thanks to Cancer Research UK for allow sharing of their kick-ass graphics

The American Cancer Society echoes the UK organization and reminds people that:

“carcinogens do not cause cancer at all times, under all circumstances”

In referring to the IARC and National Toxicity Program (NTP) lists of carcinogens and possible/potential carcinogens, the American Cancer Society recommends people approach the data with risk in mind, not just cause: 

“The lists describe the level of evidence that something can cause cancer, not how likely it is that something will cause cancer in any person (or how much it might raise your risk). For example, IARC considers there to be strong evidence that both tobacco smoking and eating processed meat can cause cancer, so both are listed as “carcinogenic to humans.” But smoking is much more likely to cause cancer than eating processed meat, even though both are in the same category”

The Take-away?

• Be aware of what you eat.

• Be aware of how much you eat. What’s your weekly consumption of processed meat? 50 g/wk, 100 g/wk, 150 g/wk, more?!

• Choose fresh (unprocessed) white meats instead of processed meats.

• Choose uncured meats labeled as including “no nitrates/no nitrites.” I was surprised to find that the Boar’s Head brand offers a variety of no nitrate/no nitrite processed meat options

• No matter what you’re eating, consider adding more vegetables and fiber-rich foods to your diet, and physical activity to your life!

• Most importantly, don’t stress about the ever evolving science of nutrition.

• Be smart about your choices but don’t live in fear about them. If you’re that stressed about your lifestyle, consider ways to change it. Jim is coming up on his 3rd anniversary of quitting smoking, if he can change that habit, you can eat less ham!

  Thanks for reading, and please comment!

Further Reading:

Consuming fried processed meats, like bacon and sausage, may be even worse than consuming un-fried processed meats as you’ll see in this illuminating article from The Conversation titled “Why nitrates and nitrites in processed meats are harmful - but those in vegetables aren’t.”