lunch meat CAUSES CANCER!!!!

I'd just like to issue a little BEWARE/CAUTION/WARNING to all of the health-conscious eaters out there!

Cold Cuts (a.k.a. lunch meats, processed meat), like turkey, roast beef, ham, bologna, salami, etc. are under severe scrutiny by the scientific population.... A recent study shows they cause a 67% increase in pancreatic cancer, increases in Alzheimer's disease and dementia!

Apparently, the problem isn't the high amounts of saturated fat (much more than normal meat)... the issue is the high amounts of toxic chemicals, heavy metals, environmental pollutants, and sodium nitrate found trapped in the fat molecules.   By the way, sodium nitrate, a color-fixer, is highly carcinogenic (cancer-promoting).

"...forms a variety of nitrosamine compounds that enter the bloodstream and wreak havoc with a number of internal organs: the liver and pancreas in particular. Sodium nitrite is widely regarded as a toxic ingredient, and the USDA actually tried to ban this additive in the 1970's but was vetoed by food manufacturers who complained they had no alternative for preserving packaged meat products."

Here are links for more information:

 http://www.organicconsumers.org/foodsafety/pr ocessed100705.cfm

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316435,00.html

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/0712102 13133.htm

www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-10-31-cancer_N.htm

www.uihealthcare.com/topics/medicaldepartments/cancercent er/cancertips/processedmeat.html

I know I won't be eating any more processed meat if I can help it!

I'm not trying to tell any of ya'll what to do, just giving you a little-heads up! Feel free to comment with comments/more info/etc.

:)

"Consuming processed meats increases the risk of pancreatic cancer, says new research conducted at the University of Hawaii that followed nearly 200,000 men and women for seven years. According to lead study author Ute Nothlings, people who consumed the most processed meats (hot dogs and sausage) showed a 67% increased risk of pancreatic cancer over those who consumed little or no meat products."

It's a flawed study. There might be some truth in it. But what if people who did not consume a lot of lunch meat tended to have healthier diets and lifestyles overall? =/

It's just not scientific. You can get such a study to say anything you want it to. I'll still be consuming lunch meats until there's more hard evidence... probably not nearly as much as the people who ate a lot of "hot dogs and sausage" though.

Its like half the studies now a days, with the most recent aspartame one. The testing is always flawed in some way, they either test only a certain specimen, not enough test subjects, etc.

Hmm..

From a basic-highschool-biology point of view let's think,

Lunch meat is made of animals, which have fat in their bodies.

Fat molecules contain concentrated amount of the pesticides, chemicals, PCBs, heavy metals (mercury, etc.) the animals eat in their food.

Quite frankly, I believe hands-down, even with no evidence, that chemicals, metals, PCBs, etc. cause major bodily harm.  I know human bodies aren't supposed to withstand alien substances. 

If you based all your knowledge on the what the popular media (aka Fox News & USA Today) tells you, then you'd know that everything gives you cancer.

I really, really wish the popular media would learn to stop flashing their warning lights every time any little study finds anything.   It's a basic rule of epidemiology that study results are not conclusive unless then are replicated multiple times.

Original Post by quartersmk:

Hmm..

From a basic-highschool-biology point of view let's think,

Lunch meat is made of animals, which have fat in their bodies.

Fat molecules contain concentrated amount of the pesticides, chemicals, PCBs, heavy metals (mercury, etc.) the animals eat in their food.

Quite frankly, I believe hands-down, even with no evidence, that chemicals, metals, PCBs, etc. cause major bodily harm. I know human bodies aren't supposed to withstand alien substances.

I agree that "chemicals and toxins" sound bad and are generally things you wouldn't want to put in your body. But the way you got to that conclusion is bogus. Human lifespans have more than doubled in a very short time (biologically speaking) thanks to modern medicine.

Don't eat cured meat 3 times a day every day.  Correlation studies are very hard to figure out.  So many things can correlate which have little to do with each other.  Most "____ causes cancer" stories only show a significant increase in cases where the person eats a very large amount of something.  Unfortunately we cant keep humans in a cage an control their food and activity to be sure there is only one variable.  I will continue to have my bacon on Saturday mornings.

*sigh*....everything causes cancer these days

Yeah, I learned in biology about lunch meats being highly linked to cancer because most of them have sodium nitrates or sodium nitrites added.  If you get the natural kind (Hormel brand makes them) without added nitrates and nitrites, you avoid this risk.

Well, damned it, cancer tastes too delicious for me to avoid.

Original Post by cellulitedelight:

Well, damned it, cancer tastes too delicious for me to avoid.

That's what I'm saying. Mmm....cancer.

I just buy mine organic. I like the idea better in general and I don't eat it like there's no tomorrow so I really don't care about the extra dollar or two--- and duh, stuff that isn't organic is always proclaimed 'carcinogenic' these days. Whether you care or not I think it tastes better anyway. Don't eat processed food or chemically injected foods/animal products/pesticided crap, and you will be fine no matter what they end up finding actually causes cancer, and there are lists and lists of other health problems associated with the **** anyways. Support people who do it right so that others are forced to is what I say...I like to know what I'm eating whether bad or good.

feanor, did you read the actual study?  news releases always simplify and latch onto the statement(s) from the results/conclusions with the most drama value.  you can't judge the study from the news releases.

Great.  One more thing that makes life fun to add to the list that will shorten my life.  As if I don't partake enough already.

Back in the 1960s I used to listen to Carleton Fredricks on WOR radio.  He was preaching then about the nitrates and nitrites in cured meats, and the BHT and BHA preservatives in breakfast cereal.  This is old news.

Just more reason to start preserving meats by irradiation.  (Irradiating meat doesn't make it radioactive, it just kills the bugs in it without introducing potentially carcinogenic chemicals.)

Someone said it, though - just about everything causes cancer.  Heck - *living* causes cancer.  Think of it this way: as your body's cells do their work, they get worn out.  There's no way around it.  As they wear out, your body has to make more of them.  Every time a cell opens up its DNA for replication, there's a chance you might end up with a cancerous cell.

As far as the validity of the study, I'd have to read it to decide for myself.  I'm a scientist by training, and it's sad the kinds of reporting that goes on about scientific studies.  I know there's no hope of getting *everyone* to understand the nuances of scientific studies, but I wish people reporting on studies had more science training, or were more careful about the way they reported them. 

cnjjeanmard, I think the only thing that'll shorten your life is worrying about all the crap that'll shorten your life.

As Anthony Bourdain says, "Who cares if it's going to kill me slowly, so long as it tastes good."

Thanks for posting that.... useful heads up.

But yeah, I agree, what doesnt cause cancer nowadays??

In my eyes - everything in moderation.

Anything in excess is harmful. And a little bit of lunch meat or aspartame, here and there, probably won't kill ya. Hopefully ;)

yes, more and more of the crap we eat has been found to be carcinogenic.  that's because we're eating more and more crap.  i try to eat actual food as often as possible.

some things aren't meant to be ingested.

and THAT is why i'm a vegetarian...

eh...I'll just put "death by lunchmeat" on my tombstone