There’s been a lot of scary articles in the past few days related to the new WHO (World Health Organization) report, stating that red and processed meats cause cancer. This lead to quite a bit of panic being spread by sensationalist journalism and some quirky facebook memes. Vegetarians and vegans threw their arms up victoriously with a resounding, “I told you so!” But with so many fact-lite articles swarming around, not many readers knew what WHO’s report actually said.
I waited quietly in the background to see what the news source that I actually trust had to say. I know that 99.9% of the time the BBC offers up a well rounded fact-dense article that will cut through the fear mongering and tell me what is actually happening. Once again, the BBC came through with panic-free reporting.
Basically, WHO said that if you eat two pieces of bacon (or 50g of processed meat) every day for the rest of your life, it raises your risk of getting colorectal cancer by 18%. It does NOT have the same cancer risks as smoking a pack of cigarettes every day for the rest of your life.
My family enjoys bacon for breakfast about once every other month and bbq’d burgers and dogs at the occasional party in the summer. I’m cool with that. My youngest does have a bit of an obsession with sausage that I am trying to ween him off of, but we also eat tons of whole vegetables, fruits and grains as the majority of our diets.
If you are someone that LOVES and has to have bacon, ham and grilled meats every day, cutting back could only be helpful to you.
Here’s the link to the BBC article to read and share with friends that are screaming to the heavens in despair at the loss of their beloved salted meats. Though the title is scary, reading it will actually ease their minds.