Bacon, sausages and ham rank alongside smoking as cancer causes, says WHO

[brooklynite]

Source: The Guardian

Bacon, ham and sausages rank alongside cigarettes as a major cause of cancer, the World Health Organisation has said, placing cured and processed meats in the same category as asbestos, alcohol, arsenic and tobacco.

The report from the WHO’s cancer arm, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), said there is enough evidence to rank processed meats as group 1 carcinogens, because of a causal link with bowel cancer.

It places red meat in group 2A, as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. Eating red meat is also linked to pancreatic and prostate cancer, the IARC says.

The decision from IARC, after a year of deliberations by international scientists, will be welcomed by cancer researchers but triggered an immediate and furious response from the industry and the scientists it funds, who rejected any comparison between cigarettes and meat

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/26/bacon-ham-sausages-processed-meats-cancer-risk-smoking-says-who

---

Spoilsport

[hobbit709]

1. Hominids have been eating red meat for how many years now?

From back before there was even a homo sapiens.

[Kelvin Mace]

3. True,

but not "smoked" meats. I would also point out that smoking (tobacco) in hominids is a pretty recent development.

[hobbit709]

6. Wasn't talking about tobacco

and there's a lot of difference between the original methods of curing meat and the way it's done in a big processing plant.

[Kelvin Mace]

11. I know

I was pointing out though that early hominids didn't smoke (since the OP mentioned smoking). And you are correct, our methods of curing meats is very different today than it was even 100 years ago. I think the addition of so many chemicals in the modern curing process is the problem.

Of course, the Bacon Industrial Complex will not take this fact quietly.

[Art_from_Ark]

110. Yeah, today's methods use lots of chemicals

There used to be a shop in my hometown that sold home-smoked meats. They had a smoking shack on the premises and the smell of hickory smoke filled the air.

[AlbertCat]

21. but not "smoked" meats

They've been smoking meats since prehistory. It's one of the earliest ways of preparing it.


But whatever you do DON'T EAT BREAD! ..... another prehistoric staple.



Then there is , of course..... moderation!

[Kelvin Mace]

28. I should be more clear, sorry

Not smoked as they are today after treatment with many chemicals.

[cstanleytech]

84. Actually humans have been eating smoked meat for thousands of years.

I suspect the problem isnt that we eat it but rather the amount of it that we eat on average has increased since its alot easier for most of us to get it now.

[wordpix]

92. agribiz-kept animals with chemicals in their diet = cancer

whether or not meats are smoked, heavily salted, with monosodium glutamate, etc. And in smoked meats, what is creating the smoke? It's all bad. Stay away, know your source of meat, buy grass-fed and pastured or go vegetarian.

People have no idea the disgusting conditions some of these poor animals are kept in. And the same people eat the meat, no questions asked.

[Warpy]

103. No, salting and smoking are ancient processes

that developed independently worldwide. If the tribe was lucky enough to bring down a mammoth, there was no way to eat the meat before it spoiled. Salting, drying and smoking the meat preserved it. I imagine it co evolved as soon as hominoids learned how to make fire.

Tobacco was probably one of the first things migrants into the western hemisphere discovered. Eating the leaves poisoned them and probably made a pretty good toxin to coat one's arrows with. Smoking them gave them the illusion of clarity, which is why it remains largely ceremonial in many tribes today, although many also smoke cigarettes.

[closeupready]

4. It's the chemicals used in processing meats, in my opinion.

I'll buy only 'no nitrite' bacon from a specialty processor in NJ. Will it 'save' me? lol who knows, but I'm not taking chances.

[GliderGuider]

24. There's a funny thing about nitrites and nitrates...

The Nitrate and Nitrite Myth: Another Reason Not To Fear Bacon

It may surprise you to learn that the vast majority of nitrate/nitrite exposure comes not from food, but from endogenous sources within the body. (1) In fact, nitrites are produced by your own body in greater amounts than can be obtained from food, and salivary nitrite accounts for 70-90% of our total nitrite exposure. In other words, your spit contains far more nitrites than anything you could ever eat.

When it comes to food, vegetables are the primary source of nitrites. On average, about 93% of nitrites we get from food come from vegetables. It may shock you to learn that one serving of arugula, two servings of butter lettuce, and four servings of celery or beets all have more nitrite than 467 hot dogs. (2) And your own saliva has more nitrites than all of them! So before you eliminate cured meats from your diet, you might want to address your celery intake. And try not to swallow so frequently.

[Sunlei]

61. Affiliate Disclosure

Affiliate Disclosure

This website contains affiliate links, which means Chris may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. You will pay the same price for all products and services, and your purchase helps support Chris‘s ongoing research and work. Thanks for your support!

[GliderGuider]

65. In this life we all get to choose whose lies we will believe...

At least he disclosed his potential conflict of interest.

[wordpix]

95. thanks, Sunlei, I thought it would be some kind of scam

[Sunlei]

96. hey but Chemical-Bacon Corps pay good for those kind words :)

[demigoddess]

97. yes, but is it the same identical chemical?

nitrites give me headaches, but celery and lettuce, etc doesn't bother me a bit. Perhaps you could explain that. Also so many of the chemicals we use in industry are made from petroleum and I have no reason to think that it is any difference with food chemicals.

[GliderGuider]

98. It's your body, so you get to decide whose agenda you believe

And trust me, in nutrition everyone has an agenda. This excerpt is from a web site you might find more balanced. The tone is certainly less confrontational than the one I posted earlier.

Nitrites In Food

Pick Your Poison: Botulism or Nitrosamines?

Consumer concern about nitrites in cured meats is a result of several studies that have linked cold cuts to cancer, in particular, colorectal cancer. Nitrites have mostly been accused, but results of various studies have been inconsistent, with some showing a strong correlation between the intake of cured meats and cancer and others finding no link at all. We do know that under certain conditions, nitrites can produce carcinogenic chemical compounds called nitrosamines. Those conditions include strong acidity – as in stomach acid, or cooking with high temperatures, for example, frying. Bacon has been the biggest target as it almost always contains nitrosamines and is cooked at a high temperature. Not all processed meats produce nitrosamines, however, yet there still appears to be a link between cold cuts and cancer and research is looking at the high amounts of sodium and saturated fat found in these foods as other potential causes.

Synthetic vs. Natural Nitrites

Many food manufacturers have created new product lines featuring cold cuts and cured meats that are free of the chemical form of nitrite but instead use cultured celery powder, a natural alternative to nitrites. Lately, some have been criticized for labelling their meats ‘preservative-free’ or claiming ‘no added nitrates’ when, in fact, cultured celery powder contains preformed nitrites.

There are some differences between synthetic and more natural forms of nitrite. Synthetic curing salt is dyed pink to differentiate it from table salt and to help it blend better with meat. Also, the amount of nitrite in a food is more difficult to control when using the natural forms of the preservative. The maximum allowable amount of (synthetic) sodium nitrite added to food is 20 grams per 100 kilograms (or 200 ppm) or less, depending on the type of meat product. Mixing celery salts with a starter (a bacterial culture) to form nitrite is a difficult process to control; hence, a food preserved with cultured celery powder may contain even more nitrites than conventional meat products in which the amount of added nitrites is measured.

Now it's my time for full disclosure. I've been an Atkins dieter since the late 70s, my diet today is 90% meat, and I think Gary Taubes' book "Good Calories, Bad Calories" is one of the better pieces of science journalism I've read.

I'm not paid for my views, but I sure have opinions. One of them is that most of what passes for nutritional advice these days is utter shite - partly because the science hasn't advanced far enough yet (the study methodologies tend to be inconclusive and error-prone) and partly because the referees for science journals have their own agendas, but largely because most of it fails to take personal metabolic differences into account.

There's no one-size-fits-all diet any more than there are one-size-fits-all ice skates. So, you get to make up your own mind about who to trust. You should always treat their advice skeptically, and always take it in conjunction with listening to your own body - it's the one you have to live with.

[wordpix]

94. the animals are given heavy doses of chemicals throughout their lives

if we're talking agribusiness animals and not small family farm ones. The animals are fed GMO grains grown with dangerous glyphosate/Roundup herbicide. The feed may be sprayed with insecticide when in storage, also. The animals are also given antibiotics in their feed and water. They may get growth hormones. They may be crowded in feedlots up to their waist in shit.

Nice, healthy clean food it's not whether there are nitrites or not.

Another issue is, it's hard to know why so many are getting cancer, even if their diet is healthy/not too much red meat, etc. Two women I know with very healthy lifestyle/eating habits died of pancreatic cancer recently.

Bottom line: eat organic

[appalachiablue]

116. +2

[jtuck004]

15. Your grandparents didn't eat pink slime formed together and called red meat. n/t

[hobbit709]

16. I don't call that meat either.

[jtuck004]

17. I wish you and the grocers agreed. <G> n/t

[Reter]

22. I love the grin symbol! <g>

It's screams 1993.

[jtuck004]

25. What does the ignore button scream? n/t

[Reter]

106. Are you seriously putting someone on ignore for complimenting you?

I am very old school and nostalgic, I was on BBS's in 1993. Your <g> gave me fond memories of those days. I wanted to give you a big high five.

If I'm already on ignore, you won't see this. Someone please tell him for me that it was by no means an insult.

[dreamnightwind]

112. You should go really old-school

and change your avatar from a 3.5 floppy to a 5.25 floppy. Maybe those precede your day, 80's vs 90's. The 5.25 ones were the floppy floppies. <g>

[Reter]

117. I would if they had it available to use as an avatar

I grew up with an Atari computer. Still have it and the 5.25 floppies, but not all work anymore.

[dreamnightwind]

119. Cool, I started on mainframes

When the little PC's came out, I had an Atari 400 and later an 800, did a lot of programming on those, the ROM was small enough you could get to know most of the OS and how it worked. Moved up to an Amiga when they came out, had 4 floopy drives and no hard drive, would load them all up into RAM when I booted and do development work (IIRC the available harddrive was like 20MB and $500 so I went with the floppy chain, not sure about those numbers, were harddrives ever that small?), those floppies were all 3.5's so not so old-school I suppose. The old Atari's were fun for their time, as was the Amiga.

[Le Taz Hot]

36. It's because you can't use emoticons

in a thread title, but nice ageist jab. And enjoy your stay.

[Reter]

107. I see how the internet sucks for reading between the lines, and you can put a :) in the title

I'm probably just as old as he is, and when I say something "screams 1993", it is a compliment. If I was a young kid, I wouldn't remember the <g> symbol, now would I?

"Enjoy your stay" is for people with pre-30 posts and one month here, not years and 1,000+.

I'm sorry if you took it the wrong way, but for the rest of my life, I will always comment on people using the <g> sign. Because I'm ageist? No, because I too am older, and I freaking love that period of when BBS's ruled. The <g> always makes me grin (pun intended), and it's so rare that I get excited when I see it, and can relate to anyone who uses it because they were liking using computers for as long as I have. You know how often I see the <g> sign? Maybe twice in the past 10 years. It's sadly was replaced by lol.

So am I ageist? Maybe a tad, but only against the youth.

[whopis01]

29. And they have had a rather short life expectancy over most of that time.

Along with a lack of ability determine the exact cause of death in a lot of cases.

I have a feeling that a lot of what we have done and eaten over all of human history hasn't been all that healthy for us. However it has just been in relatively recent years that enough people have lived long enough for it to be a problem.

[valerief]

53. And what about heteronids? nt

[LiberalArkie]

42. I doubt that even 100 years ago that people ate red meat at about every meal.

I don't think that the meat that they ate were all injected with drugs, processed with nitrates and fed with who knows what.

[dixiegrrrrl]

64. Ever watch the series The Supersizers?

BBC thing, where a couple re-create menus of upper middle class families thru different time periods.

Turns out, those who could afford it ate several kinds of meats at every meal...and darn few vegetables.
Each meal had a lengthy menu of different course, with each course having at least 2 kinds of meats....beef, fowl, fish.
Gargantuan sized lunches and dinners...bread and animal dominating the menus.

Rather fascinating perspective.
The upside was that the things with faces they ate did not have a lot of preservatives and other chemicals..
( tho eating off of lead plates could be a problem).

[villager]

76. Exactly. There are a lot of myths used to rationalize gorging on industrially-produced meat now

such as "we've always eaten it."

But not this much, not this constantly, and not "raised" like it is now.... (And of course, without the burning of calories involved in hunting your meat, rather than just rolling through the drive-by window while listening to AM talk radio...)

[Warpy]

101. And curing meat and fish as soon as they discovered how to make fire

It was the only way to preserve meat until refrigeration and freezing came along and that was very recently. Smoking meats produced a coating that was poisonous to bacteria and a deterrent to varmints. Salting the meat dried it out, making it impossible for bacteria colonies to exist within it.

I'll believe cured meats are equivalent to cigarettes when people compulsively eat 40 servings a day, and even then, they'll die of obesity before cancer gets them.

Nitrosamines, produced during the curing process, are bad for you. However, spoiled meat is worse. The key, as always, is eating this food in moderation.

Nitrate free deli meats are becoming more available. The shelf life is shorter so they'll always be more expensive, but they're available to people who live on sandwiches.

[still_one]

2. This has been know for some time. Still it is good that it calling attention to it

[The Wizard]

5. Processed meats

Gave up meat and poultry because of the antibiotics and steroids.

[hobbit709]

7. I still buy meat but I don't buy meat with hormones and antibiotics in it.

It may cost a little moe but it's worth it on taste alone.

[womanofthehills]

47. I only eat range fed beef and nitrate free bacon and hot dogs

I live in a ranching community and can buy grass fed beef from local ranchers. But you can also buy grass fed in lots of stores - not just organic groceries - even Albertsons's in NM has grass fed beef and it's so delicious. The article said meat was a "probable carcinogen." It used to be it was a carcinogen if it was charred. Most food is probably a "probable carcinogen" with our polluted planet. How much food is contaminated with polluted water and now fracking water let alone pesticides. I live in NM, and everytimes it rains in northern NM, plutonium comes down the Rio Grande. It's 40's plutonium that was just dumped in arroyos during the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. However, our local paper said "but not to worry."

[Archae]

8. I should be dead from cancer then.

Never had cancer.

Still not dead.

Looks more and more like the WHO is being run by idiots.

[randome]

13. Right, because they should base all studies on you personally.

You don't understand statistics very well, I think. Neither do I but I understand the concepts.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it."
Tony Randall, 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)[/center][/font][hr]

[padfun]

14. Are you serious?

Do you think Climate Change is a hoax because it snowed in Cleveland?

[PatSeg]

40. The poster tends to cherry pick

the science he believes.

[Plucketeer]

44. I agree with you

I'm 70 now - love bacon, sausage and pink slime. What worries me most is that as my years pile up, I might well live long enough to die from processed meats!

[ronnie624]

52. What a odd thing to say about the World Health Organization.

There's probably no better source of information on the topic of human health statistics. The organization is run by doctors and scientists who take their jobs very seriously.

[Nye Bevan]

63. Right, and some guy who smokes lived into his 90s,

so cigarettes are not dangerous.

[HuckleB]

70. The WHO is going downhill fast, indeed.

This is just beyond the pale. It's about fear mongering, not utilization of good science and public health policies.

[restorefreedom]

85. yes, phd's and medical doctors

are often known as society's idiots

are you a climate change denier, too?

[MowCowWhoHow III]

9. Switching to e-Bacon

Last edited Mon Oct 26, 2015, 10:17 AM - Edit history (1)

[sofa king]

10. It's like everything the Vikings did was wrong.

Pillage, arson, rapine, government toppling, the wrong gods and now we can add swine to the list of Bad Things that Vikings Like.

[Orrex]

12. I've cut back to just two packs of bacon per day

[olddad56]

18. where does stress and worrying rank?

[Human101948]

19. Does that include bacon flavored Scope?

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[Kalidurga]

49. It's not real and boy did that give some people a sad...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100601129

[Evergreen Emerald]

20. I chose to die from bacon.

If I have to go...I might as well go happy.

[shenmue]

54. Bacon cheezburgers, nom nom nom

[hueymahl]

23. They can have my red meat When they pry it from my cold dead fingers

Or something like that!

[Geronimoe]

62. Cold dead tumors

[hueymahl]

120. Either way, MMM meat.

[somethingshiny]

26. An oncologist

told me this 13 years ago. While being treated for breast cancer, I asked him what I could do to prevent a recurrence. He answered without hesitation - "Stop eating red meat!" He then added, incredulously, "I've had patients who have had colon cancer, and they STILL eat red meat!" It hasn't been too difficult for me, personally. Thank god he made no mention of wine or ice cream.

[Kilgore]

27. In honor of this study I had........

Both ham and bacon with my breakfast, and going to bbq some brats for dinner.

Give it a month, another study will tell you that NOT eating bacon & sausage shortens life. Just like coffee and milk.

If you can't tell, my "Give a Damn" is broken regarding what foods will kill me. Instead I ascribe to the principal of "Living ultimately results in death" So might as live well.

[closeupready]

30. "another study will tell you NOT eating ... shortens life" - yes, like eggs.

Remember when they were "a heart attack on a plate"?

So yeah, popular medicine often leave much to be desired.

[somethingshiny]

37. Good for you!

Be sure to follow up the meal with coffee and a cigarette!

[Kilgore]

46. Already had the coffee, two cups, full caffeine but I......

Don't do cigarettes. My mearschwam pipe with a bowl full of a fine tobacco after dinner is another matter entirely. Oh, can't forget the before bed bit of port either!

[sybylla]

67. Precisely. I decided the same many years ago too.

So many studies that say one thing now, another thing 10 years from now when they figure out where they went wrong in the first or second or third series of studies that we're all supposed to take so seriously.

My family and I live by science, but when it comes to health, the scientific community has struggled over and over and over again to define the effects of something done or eaten today on a human body constantly subject to innumerable uncontrollable factors over the next decade, let alone a life time. I appreciate when a preponderance of studies point to something - like smoking - that demonstrate an obvious link. I'm just not seeing it in so many other areas. Eat eggs, don't eat eggs, eat eggs. Eat bread, don't eat bread, oh, by the way, eat some bread. Rice will kill you, but rice is good for you. Drinking is bad, but drink some wine and have a little beer because it's good for you. Chocolate - oh no, except eat some chocolate because health. Drink lots of di-hydrogen-monoxide, oh, wait, that stuff will kill you.

There's only so much bullshit one can handle before the entire medical industrial complex is compromised and no one believes a freaking thing they say anymore. It's this kind of crap that feeds the anti-science, anti-vax crazies and gives them a peg leg upon which they can prop up their denial.

People who want to do the right thing are essentially left to their own devices.

I'm struggling to find a new doctor and get an overdue check-up, simply because I don't know if I can find one I can trust anymore.

[Kilgore]

91. Very good post!

I could have not said it better myself.

Gave up on whats good/bad for you studies years ago. We follow a solid Mediterranean diet in our family. Not because of some fad or study, but instead we follow it because we are Italian, and have a heritage of great family recipes which include a healthy dose of fatty cured pork, cheese, pasta (EEK!!! Gluten!!!), and espresso.

As far as I can tell our clan regularly lives to 80+ and is devoid of heat attacks and cancer. It drives our doctor crazy who would rather see us eat carrot sticks and tofu, but cant point to any specific indicator in our physicals on which to base his opinion. Screw him, he's the one who looks thin and sickly!!

So screw the studies also, I have prosciutto, cheese, and a bit of ciabatta bread waiting for me and plan on washing it down with a beer!!

Cheers!!

[sybylla]

118. Ha! Exactly!

Six of my eight great-grandparents all lived into their 80's and one made it to her 90's eating all the things that WHO just banned on a regular/daily basis. The other two died from pneumonia and drinking too much.

Today, my remaining grandmother will turn 90 on January 3rd. Her siblings all lived into their 80s and 90s (despite some of them smoking) and none of them took cholesterol medicine, had routine colonoscopies, or ate anything but a Swiss diet heavy in processed meats, red meat, potatoes, eggs, and cheese.

So you and I are two of a kind! Cheers to you, too!

[alarimer]

32. Probably needlessly alarmist.

The mainstream media does a horrendous job of reporting science. Science is usually too nuance for the "he said, she said" narrative. In reality, this was likely a red meat will "kind of, sort of, maybe" kill you.

In any case, who cares? We're all going to die anyway. We might as well do what we like.

The fact is, you can abstain from all those things that will supposedly kill you, but there is absolutely no guarantee that any of that will prevent you getting cancer. Or anything else. You cannot eliminate all risk. It cannot be done. And these sensationalistic media reports are incredibly irresponsible and so are doctors who say "Stop eating red meat and you won't get cancer." It's not true, or at least it isn't that simple.

Accept that there is a risk to simply living your life. Own it. That's what I do. I eat what I like in moderation and accept that I may not live to be 100. I don't want to anyway.

[alarimer]

35. No, because the media reports on stuff like this are almost always wrong.

Because the media, like most Americans, are scientifically ignorant. I really hate the breathless reporting that this or that will kill you. This time for sure. Yeah, we really mean it this time. Etc. Etc.

I no longer give a shit.

[Geronimoe]

59. Try eating more fiber!

[PatSeg]

45. In the article

it advocates moderation, not necessarily eliminating red and process meat altogether.

“This decision doesn’t mean you need to stop eating any red and processed meat. But if you eat lots of it you may want to think about cutting down. You could try having fish for your dinner rather than sausages, or choosing to have a bean salad for lunch over a BLT.”

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/oct/26/bacon-ham-sausages-processed-meats-cancer-risk-smoking-says-who

[rockfordfile]

69. What?

"In any case, who cares? We're all going to die anyway. We might as well do what we like."

What are you lost?

[kimbutgar]

38. Remember the Atkins diet?

I had a boss who ate bacon and others meats in the early 2000's on that diet. He died of pancreatic cancer in 2013. I told him a couple of times about that nitrates were not good for you but he ignored me.

[djean111]

55. I have been on that Atkins diet, sometimes off, mostly on, since the '70s.

I am almost 70, no prescription drugs, blood pressure usually 105 or so over 65-70. Colonoscopy two years ago - nothing to be found. No diabetes, cholesterol levels great. I get my checkup once a year - my doctor recently lost weight, I commented, she said yeah, I tried skipping the carbs and sugar, like you said you do, and damn if that does not work for me.

My truck broke down recently, I have been making the three mile round trip to the grocery store in weather that "feels like" 110. Got really sweaty, that's about it. And I am not an exerciser, though I know I should be. I take some supplements, not many.

Your data is anecdotal, my data is anecdotal. I knew a guy who died at 50 with pancreatic cancer who thought he had lactose intolerance, and skipped dairy and fats, including fatty meats, all of his life. Turned out it was his pancreas. There are so many reasons for an organ to fail, some unavoidable, IMO.

I think genetics has a lot to do with things. My mother died at 49 from cancer that metastasized from her uterus to her pretty much everything. I don't know about her lifestyle choices, since I had not seen her from when I was six until right before she died. I think she drank a lot, but then so did I, back in the day. I am surprised my liver did not depart in the middle of the night, leaving a note that said it had to save itself - blood tests and sonograms say it, and the rest of my innards, are just fine now.

There is no one size fits all, again IMO. But I will stick with Atkins. Can't really afford a lot of the steak and bacon and such any more, I stick to cheese and fibrous veggies and nuts and BUTTER and eggs, stuff like that. It works for me. Sorry for the detail, but it bothers me when low-carbing is dismissed as a killer in that broad-brush way.

[Feron]

89. I'm a low carber as well.

I can accept a small risk of cancer vs. the certainty of getting diabetes if I resume a moderate to high carb diet.

There is such a thing as vegetarian low carb, but that's far too extreme for me. I have to have my meats and I don't want to be restricted to white meats.

[TwilightGardener]

39. Eh...fuck it. Still eating ham, bacon, red meat, etc. It's not like I have it every day.

But BLT's with good sandwich bread and sliced avocado--you can't beat it.

[IDemo]

41. Time to bring BaconVapin to the market n/t

[PatSeg]

43. People get more emotional

and defensive about their food, than their politics. This is true especially with meat! Very interesting thread.

[packman]

48. Oh, No -

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[smirkymonkey]

105. Oh god, the assault kit!

Arghhhh!

[Gregorian]

56. No it doesn't. It's what's in the meat that does.

Like hormones and pesticides.

If it's processed, it's not good for us. Like salt: table salt is processes, and is not good for us. Sea salt is not processed, and is beneficial to us.

[Humanist_Activist]

72. Uhm, just a quibble, but in the case of salt, there is no chemical difference between "sea salt"..

and table salt. The only thing that would be "healthier" is you might be more likely to use less sea salt because the crystals are less uniform, so you might have an illusion that you are using more. Less salt intake might be better from your blood pressure, or not, there's some conflict on that one, and dependent on age as well.

But sodium chloride is sodium chloride, doesn't really matter whether its labelled sea salt or not. The only differences are what's added, such as iodine, or what impurities are in it, such as in the Himalayan pink salt that's all the rage. The thing is, we need sodium(and potassium, also comes from salts), in our diet, table salt isn't harmful, in moderation, like with everything.

ON EDIT: Looking up Pink Salt, because I was curious, came across this:

http://themeadow.com/pages/minerals-in-himalayan-pink-salt-spectral-analysis

There are a lot of minerals and different elements in it, no surprise, its unrefined rock salt. But, the concentrations of all of them are either too small to be beneficial, or, thankfully, too small to be harmful, for there are some elements in that salt that can hurt you in large enough quantities, such as Arsenic, and everyone's favorite boogeymen, the radioactive elements.

[hedgehog]

74. I'm waiting to hear about how some of us need more salt in our diets

because we've cut back too much.

[Humanist_Activist]

79. I would say follow the directions from your doctor, removing salt entirely from you diet is harmful.

But you also would get most from food anyway, technically you don't need added salt at all except as a matter of personal taste unless you are on a severely unbalanced diet. The key is for your body to have enough sodium to keep you healthy, but not so much that it overwhelms your kidneys and increases your blood pressure.

[Kilgore]

104. Be careful with the pink salt

It's the same name used for the sodium nitrite salt mix used to cure meats.

http://www.amazon.com/Curing-Salt-Instacure-Prague-Powder/dp/B00BBIOJ1G

Best not confuse the two.

[Gregorian]

121. More than one highly respected person I've listened to has mentioned the differences between the two

types of salt as being a big deal. I guess in a way that leads me back to the reason I replied to this thread- whether or not to trust a study. I've been getting progressively less gullible, and probably slipped up on the salt one.

OK, just did my own Googling, and I feel like a dope. But thanks for the reply. I like being set straight. It also helps me be skeptical of whatever that source says.

[Humanist_Activist]

122. Up until a couple of months ago, I thought there might be chemical differences between sea salt...

and table salt, so no worries.

I'm always willing to learn, and be corrected, I've been proven wrong on this forum myself plenty of times.

[lancer78]

57. All I got to say is this

[Sunlei]

58. gotten worse when they took the dog food scrap and started feeding it to humans. Worse

for pets too, the quality of pet foods 'protein' took a huge nosedive over the past 10 years.

[chillfactor]

60. good grief!

seems everything we eat and drink causes cancer...at this rate half of us meat eaters could die of cancer.....maybe we should just stop eating all together....sorry as a cigarette smoker and meat eater...I am doing just fine at 74 years of age...

[GliderGuider]

66. Well, 5 years of vegetarianism damaged my health severely.

Last edited Mon Oct 26, 2015, 01:48 PM - Edit history (1)

Two years of a 90% meat diet has restored it. Thanks, WHO.

[sybylla]

68. Sorry to hear that.

Glad you're feeling better. I can't imagine sacrificing so much to be a vegetarian and then have it hurt your health on top of it.

[GliderGuider]

71. And just to rub some salt in the wound

I’m a very well-informed ecologist and quite a bit Buddhist. I know exactly how much damage we’re doing to the world by raising food animals; I know how much we are damaging the animals themselves with our inhuman farming practices; and I can feel how much we are damaging our own psyches by doing so.

In order to go back to eating meat I was forced to choose my health over my conscience. I have had to do a lot of conscious re-framing to make what I’m doing feel even marginally acceptable. I wouldn't wish this situation on anyone.

[Humanist_Activist]

73. Hopefully lab grown, cloned meat becomes economical, that's my hope...

I'm not a vegetarian, but am aware of what's required to process meat and bring it to my table. If there's a way, thanks to science, to have my bacon and able to eat it without the need to slaughter pigs, that would be awesome. Though this bacon flavored kale I heard about sounds interesting.

[Skittles]

99. isn't there something between vegetarianism and 90% meat?

[GliderGuider]

100. Sure there is for most people, just not for me.

I have a variety of negative health reactions to starches, so I have to get most of my calories from fats. I prefer animal fats because they taste better and I think they are less risky than polyunsaturates that oxidize more easily. I eat greens on occasion, but I don't really see any need to seek them out. with this diet I'm also less dependent on the condition of my gut flora. Those bacteria are essential for vegetarians, but not for meat-eaters whose digestion is accomplished by endogenous enzymes. Meat is one of the easiest whole foods to digest, believe it or not.

My health markers (BP, weight, acid reflux, edema levels and cholesterol counts) have all improved back to normal, and my moods no longer swing violently after each starchy meal. And since I also prefer the flavour and texture of meat over most other foods, I'm one very happy camper.

"Appropriate diet" is a very individual thing.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

75. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Runningdawg]

77. I doubt

that on my death bed my last though will be - Damn, if only I had eaten bacon.
Everything in moderation.

[Blue_Tires]

78. Well, at least it's official now...

[FLPanhandle]

80. Alcohol too?

Like I'll be giving up a steak with a nice bottle of red wine anytime soon.

I run a bigger risk of death driving to the store to buy the meat than I have of eating it.

[Vinca]

81. I may die a little earlier because of bacon, but you have to be a little skeptical.

Coffee was bad, then it was good - not sure if it's currently bad or good. Butter was bad, now it is good. Margarine was good, now it's bad. Red wine was good, then it was bad, now it's good again. Chocolate - bad, then good. I can't keep track.

[elmac]

82. On a normal day I am exposed to a few carcinogens like everyone

When I was younger I worked with chemicals that are now banned as mutagens. I expect I will die of cancer some day. I eat healthy so I don't have to take a handful of pills each day but I will have a good pork roast now & then.

[Throd]

83. Screw Roger Daltrey. I'm never giving up sausage.

[GeorgeGist]

86. Don't smoke bacon!

[restorefreedom]

87. we know that meat production is bad for human health, deadly for the animals it kills,

and horrific for the planet

Changing our dietary practices is something that everyone can do which could have a big impact on this world and our own individual lifespans. I think this knowledge is very empowering.

[frylock]

90. Well, there goes my idea for a bacon, sausages and ham hookah.

[aikoaiko]

93. Game over. Nice knowing you all. I'm fooked.

[MannyGoldstein]

102. Dumb study, alarmist rating

1. They should be looking at effect on life expectancy, not just looking for a specific disease. There might be benefits as well.

2. Increase in risk seems to be small, anyway.

[Rond Vidar]

108. Mmmm....bacon......

[beevul]

109. The departure of butter seems to have left a vaccum.

The eternal question:

Which would you like, the longest life possible, or the longest quality life possible?

[muriel_volestrangler]

111. The risk: a 0.8% higher chance of coloreectal cancer from 2oz processed meat per day

(with US figures; about 1% higher, with UK figures)

The IARC estimated that eating 50 grams of processed meat daily — one hot dog, say, or two bacon slices — can increase your relative risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent. That's way less scary than it sounds. In the United States, a person's lifetime risk of colorectal cancer is about 4.5 percent. So eating a hot dog every single day would bump that lifetime risk up to 5.3 percent. Eating more processed meat would nudge those numbers up further. But the overall risk is still fairly low.

http://www.vox.com/2015/10/26/9617928/iarc-cancer-risk-carcinogenic

There’s now a large body of evidence that bowel cancer is more common among people who eat the most red and processed meat. As this evidence has steadily built up, we’ve blogged about it several times – and it’s covered on the NHS Choices website and by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF).
...
The most convincing overview of the evidence of a link to bowel cancer comes from a 2011 analysis by researchers at the WCRF, who combined the results of a number of previous studies, to try to get a clear sense of the overall picture.

They were able to group the data according to those who ate the most red and processed meat and those who ate the least. A key finding from the WCRF analysis is that red meat and processed meat aren’t equally harmful: processed meat is more strongly linked to bowel cancer than red meat.
...
We know that, out of every 1000 people in the UK, about 61 will develop bowel cancer at some point in their lives. Those who eat the lowest amount of processed meat are likely to have a lower lifetime risk than the rest of the population (about 56 cases per 1000 low meat-eaters).

If this is correct, the WCRF’s analysis suggests that, among 1000 people who eat the most processed meat, you’d expect 66 to develop bowel cancer at some point in their lives – 10 more than the group who eat the least processed meat.

http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/10/26/processed-meat-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/

The classification means that they are very confident this link is real - like they're confident the link between alcohol and some cancers is real. They're also sure the link between tobacco and cancer is real, but that's a far greater risk. See the Vox article for more.

[leftyladyfrommo]

113. I didn't eat my usual Bacon this morning.

Don't like red meat very much but I like Bacon and bologna.

[w0nderer]

114. K to keep eye on :-) N/T

[GOLGO 13]

115. Not giving up bacon...ever.

Not my bacon, my rum, my cigars, my guns. Not gonnna happen.

[Monk06]

123. Well there's mass produced chemically smoked bacon and then there's the other kinc

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/pancetta-bacon.aspx

[meow2u3]

124. I'm convinced the WHO has an ideological agenda

That being that anything pleasurable is bad for you and must be banned no matter who gets stepped on in the process.