Processed meat & its health hazards

     meat and it's products are bad and cause many diseases, perhaps we all know it by now. But we hardly have changed our habit of consuming it. I believe the reason perhaps is our limited understanding about which food products come under it and what are their actual impact on our health. So let's have a clear and short discussion on them.

Processed meat and products:[2][8]

• Processed meat is considered to be any meat which has been modified in order either to improve its taste or to extend its shelf life including salting, curing, fermentation, and smoking. 

• Meat processing includes all the processes that change fresh meat with the exception of simple mechanical processes such as cutting, grinding or mixing.

• Processed meat products include bacon, ham, hotdogs, sausages, salami, corned beef, beef jerky, canned meat and meat-based sauces etc.[1]

Health risks of processed meat:

• World Health Organization (WHO)’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) announced that consumption of processed meat is “carcinogenic(cancer causing) to humans (Group I ),” and that consumption of red meat is “probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A).”[2]

• Red meat includes mammalian muscle meat such as beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse and goat meat which have higher content of protein and myoglobin.[2]

• This has been proposed by IARC after it's 22 scientists team from 10 countries after evaluation over 800 studies.[2]

• But one point to note is, although processed meat is placed in the same group as smoking, yet its cancer causing potential is far inferior as the evidences yet available.[2]

• Processed meat and unprocessed red meat have been linked to colorectal cancer[3], bladder cancer[4], stomach cancer[5], pancreatic cancer[6] and many other cancers along with chronic and life thretening diseases like diabetes, heart disease, stroke etc[7] to be concise.

Dietary recommendations:

• With present available data, no definite safe dietary limit can be defined for meat.But we can at least derive few evidence based conclusions, such as

• High-temperature cooking like direct contact to flame such as pan frying, barbecuing, smoke cooking should be avoided as it can produce carcinogenic chemicals like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic aromatic amines.[8] 

• the exact relation of amount of processed meat and cancer causing potential is hard to estimate. still few reviews have suggested that more than 50mg of processed meat and more than 100mg of red meat daily is associated with significantly higher risk of cancer.[8]

• for now, only thing can be said is, meat has its own advantage and disadvantages. this can a very good source of protein too. But the overall consumption should be limited to as low as possible and different possessing methods should be avoided to improve it delicacy or lifespan.

 Take care,be healthy and keep smiling............

Refences:
1. Pearson, A. M.; Tauber, F. W. (2012-12-06). Processed Meats. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9789401096928.Introduction
2.The Nutrition Source. (2018). WHO report says eating processed meat is carcinogenic: Understanding the findings. [online] Available at: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2015/11/03/report-says-eating-processed-meat-is-carcinogenic-understanding-the-findings/ [Accessed 4 Jan. 2018].
3.Zhao, Z., Feng, Q., Yin, Z., Shuang, J., Bai, B., Yu, P., Guo, M. and Zhao, Q. (2017). Red and processed meat consumption and colorectal cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Oncotarget

4. Crippa A, Larsson S, Discacciati A, Wolk A, Orsini N. Red and processed meat consumption and risk of bladder cancer: a dose–response meta-analysis of epidemiological studies. European Journal of Nutrition. 2016;.

5. Zhao Z, Yin Z, Zhao Q. Red and processed meat consumption and gastric cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Oncotarget. 2015;.

6.Larsson S, Wolk A. Red and processed meat consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer: meta-analysis of prospective studies. British Journal of Cancer. 2012;106(3):603-607.

7.Micha R, Wallace S, Mozaffarian D. Response to Letter Regarding Article, "Red and Processed Meat Consumption and Risk of Incident Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, and Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis". Circulation. 2011;123(3):e17-e17.

8.Q&A on the carcinogenicity of the consumption of red meat and processed meat [Internet]. World Health Organization. 2018 [cited 5 January 2018]. Available from: http://www.who.int/features/qa/cancer-red-meat/en/