Experts advise that people eat less than 500 grams of processed meat per week, to lower its cancer-causing risk. (Photo/Li Hao/GT)
Experts advise restraint rather than abstinence, in light of WHO carcinogenic warning
Fear and panic have been spreading among meat lovers this week, on the back of warnings that their favorite food could cause cancer.
According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), which released their findings on October 26, the danger lies in the carcinogens contained in red and processed meats.
After thoroughly reviewing the accumulated scientific literature, a working group of 22 experts from 10 countries convened by the IARC Monographs Program, classified the consumption of red meat as "probably carcinogenic to humans" (Group 2A). This finding is however based on limited evidence that the consumption of red meat actually causes cancer but strong mechanistic evidence supporting a carcinogenic effect. This association was observed mainly for colorectal cancer, but associations were also seen for pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer, according to the WHO report.
The report also classified processed meat as "carcinogenic to humans" (Group 1), based on sufficient evidence in humans that the consumption of processed meat causes colorectal cancer.
However, many have expressed their doubts about whether people all have to become vegetarian in order to escape cancer. According to a Beijing Evening News report on October 27, Fang Yu, director of the Nutrition Department at Beijing Cancer Hospital, said for food to be linked to cancer, certain preconditions need to be considered, such as consumption frequency and volume. Experts say there is no need for meat lovers to panic, if they consume meat correctly.
Spreading panic
"When I read the news [that processed meat is carcinogenic], I was happily surfing the Internet with a sausage in my hand," said Song Honghong, a 20-year-old university student in Beijing. "I was frightened and suddenly dropped the sausage on the table."
Sausages have been a regular snack for her throughout her four years at university. Every time she returns from Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, she fills her suitcase with specialty sausages of different flavors produced in her hometown.
"I was frightened at first, because I eat a piece of sausage with almost every meal in my dormitory," said Song.
Canned meat is her favorite when eating a hot pot. "If the WHO report is to be believed, then years of accumulation of the cancer-causing substance in all the processed meat I eat is terrible, and I am doomed, so shall I quit eating it in the future?"
According to the WHO report, red meat refers to all types of mammalian muscle meat. Processed meat refers to meat that has been transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavor or improve preservation.
Most processed meats contain pork or beef, but processed meats may also contain other red meats such as offal or meat by-products such as blood. Examples of processed meat include hot dogs (frankfurters), ham, sausages, corned beef, biltong or beef jerky, as well as canned meat and meat-based preparations and sauces.
Jiang Zhiwei, doctor in the General Surgery Department at Nanjing General Hospital, told the Beijing Evening News that food causing cancer is a matter of probability. Although processed meat has a carcinogenic risk, the effects are not instantly felt. Food is only one of the many aspects which are likely to cause cancer.
A staff member from the China Meat Association told the Beijing Evening News that they didn't believe that the WHO report is very scientific and the conclusion was "made in haste." The association is going to cooperate with the National Health and Family Planning Commission to do research on China's morbidity rate as a result of rectal and colon cancer, especially in Sichuan and Hunan provinces, where people love to eat bacon and preserved meat.
"Cancer belongs to difficult miscellaneous diseases and the causes are always hard to determine exactly, so how can we say it is meat's fault?" said the staff member.
