--Hate bacon? Yes, you read that right. Bacon. The crispy, juicy, red meat everybody loves eating with their pancakes, burgers or...just bacon alone. Sorry to break your hearts but according to Daily Mail, the World Health Organization is planning to declare that bacon, along with burgers and sausages, is as big a cancer threat as cigarettes. Bacon is found to be high in fat, cholesterol, and sodium.
According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, mere 1.7 ounces of processed meats consumed daily (i.e. less than two strips of bacon) can increase a person's risk for colorectal cancer by 21 percent. This doesn't sound good for the U.S., as Americans on average at more than 18 pounds of bacon each per year. As a matter of fact, every year, about 143,000 Americans are diagnosed with colorectal cancer and approximately 53,000 die of it. With this, it is safe to say that bacon, and other processed meat, could have been the predator of these fatalities.
The WHO is to list processed and red meat as dangerous products joining the 'encyclopaedia of carcinogens'. It is presumed that the rulings will greatly affect the meat and farming industry and the fast food sector. It could also lead to new dietary procedures and warning labels on packs of bacon.
The Department of Health's scientific advisers recently concluded that red and processed meat may increase the probability of bowel cancer-Britain's second biggest cancer killer. WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer raises the alarming concern that meat causes the disease which takes more than 150,000 lives a year in the United Kingdom.
The final decision is due on Monday as scientists from ten nations will conduct a meeting about the subject matter. Moreover, the World Cancer Research Fund recommends avoiding processed meat. Healthier lifestyles are said to be able to prevent half of bowel cancer cases.
