A recent report published by the World Health Organisation signals worrying news for fans of a weekend fry-up.

According to the global organisation, both red and processed meat, such as bacon and sausages, have the potential to cause bowel cancer in humans.

Researchers for the International Agency for Research on Cancer have asserted that processed meat carries the strongest level of risk for cancer and, perhaps most alarmingly, falls under the same category as diesel engine exhaust and tobacco smoke.

The panel of researchers, who have come in for criticism from meat industry groups, have concluded that there is a strong link between the consumption of too much meat and the onset of colorectal cancer.
 


The report which appeared in the Lancet Oncology today clarifies the findings, saying: "On the basis of the large amount of data and the consistent associations of colorectal cancer with consumption of processed meat across studies in different populations, which make chance, bias, and confounding unlikely as explanations, a majority of the Working Group concluded that there is sufficient evidence in human beings for the carcinogenicity of the consumption of processed meats."

Dr Kurt Straif, head of the IARC monographs programme, elaborated further, explaining: "For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed."

Commenting on the research, Prof Tim Key, Cancer Research UK’s epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, sought to reassure the public and asserted that while they support the findings, they must be looked at in perspective.

"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," he explained.

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