Sausages, bacon, ham and other processed meats increase the risk of developing bowel cancer.

Sausage a day can increase bowel cancer risk

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Eating one sausage or three rashers of bacon a day can increase the risk of bowel cancer by a fifth, a medical expert has said.

The warning involved only 1.8oz (50g) of processed meat daily.

Researchers found that almost half of cancers could be prevented with lifestyle changes such as a healthier diet, using sunscreen, not smoking and limiting alcohol intake.

The charity World Fund Cancer Research (WCRF) said more needed to be done to get across the message that people who eat processed meat regularly are putting their health at risk.

The Government has introduced a bowel cancer screening programme to offer tests every two years to all men and women aged between 60 and 69. Older people could ask for testing.

But experts believe it is more effective to prevent bowel cancer, the second most lethal form of the disease after lung cancer.

Prof Martin Wiseman, the medical and scientific adviser for the WCRF, said there was convincing evidence of a link between processed meats and cancer.

Processed meat is preserved by smoking, curing, salting or the addition of preservatives.

Examples include ham, bacon, pastrami, salami, hot dogs and processed sausages.

This includes hamburgers and minced meat if it has been preserved with salt or chemical additives.

One in 20 people develops bowel cancer and 16,000 people die from it each year.

Prof Wiseman said: "We are more sure now than ever before that eating processed meat increases your risk of bowel cancer.

"Whether it is bacon or ham, the safest amount to eat is none at all.""

It is advisable to cut down on all salted food, particularly if you are overweight/obese, because all overweight and obese people are sensitive to salt, and it is this salt sensitivity that has caused them to become overweight with fluid retention.

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Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection

vulnerable groups

See Sodium in foods and

Associated health conditions and

See FAT RETENTION

Children and Obesity