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Bacon And Cancer
How Bad Is Bacon for You, Really?
By Leslie Nemo,
Live Science Contributor
It's a debate that plays out in everyone's head during a
weekend brunch: Should I be eating this much bacon?
Researchers have been diving into the question, too,
specifically as it relates to cancer.
The
question once again jumped to the forefront of people's minds with the recent
release of a meta-analysis that concluded that bacon and several other types of
meat are tied to an increased risk of breast cancer.
The research,
published in September in the International Journal of Cancer Research, looked
at 15 previous studies, including a total of more than1.2 million women, focused on the link
between breast cancer and processed meat.
The researchers
found that individuals who consumed the most processed meat - between 0.9
ounces and 1 ounce (25 and 30 grams) a day - had about a 9 percent higher risk
of breast cancer compared with those who ate the least processed meat, which
was 0 to 0.07 ounces or 0.17 ounces (2 to 5 grams) a day. [11 Ways Processed Food Is Different from Real Food]
Not every paper looking into this relationship has come to
the same conclusion, however: A World Health Organization-affiliated study from
2015, for example, did not, though it did decide these foods increased the risk
of colorectal cancer.
If there are inconsistencies, what, then, should bacon
lovers take away from the piles of papers that are published?
Dr.
Marji McCullough, a senior scientific director of epidemiology research at the
American Cancer Society, noted that breast cancer is a common disease in women,
and that salamis, hot dogs and other processed meats are popular food choices.
Together, those factors mean the risk the food poses, even
if small, is worth paying attention to, especially since an earlier
meta-analysis on the topic that has reached similar conclusions
Limitations to keep in mind
Still, it's important to know that
there are limitations to the type of research that aims to link certain foods
to the risk of health conditions.
In this case, the research available to study meant that
the authors could only assess the impact of high- and low-processed meat
consumption - there wasn't enough data available to see what risks consumers
run when they eat 0.35 ounces to 0.5 ounces (10 or 15 grams) of the product.
What's more, the studies included in the meta-analysis
relied on participants remembering what their diet had been like at certain
points in the past.
This research technique that depends on memories has a lot
of room for under- and overestimation, said Andrew Milkowski, a meat science
researcher and an adjunct professor of animal sciences at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved with the new report. (Before joining the
University of Wisconsin in 2006, Milkowski worked for Oscar Mayer.)
But
Maryam Farvid, the lead author on the latest project and a researcher at the
Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, said her team tried to counteract
this last problem by relying only on studies that surveyed women before they
received any diagnosis. That method, Farvid told Live Science, means women were
less likely to confuse their pre- and post-cancer diets. [Top 10 Cancer-Fighting Foods]
Ideally,
researchers could administer controlled diets to participants before they're
diagnosed with anything, and closely watch for changes in their health — though
those conditions are extremely difficult to pull off,
Milkowski told Live Science. "If I were smart enough to figure that
out, I'd be promoting that type of research — I don't know if it's a solvable
problem," he added.
Milkowski
also said that the 9 percent increase in risk that this report found could be a
statistical error, and is not enough to warrant alarming people - a point that
others have made when criticizing the 2015 WHO-associated report, which
labeled processed meats as "likely carcinogens" after finding the
food increased colon cancer risk by 18 percent.
But
Farvid said that other dietary factors have also been associated with breast
cancer risk, such amount of fiber or fruits and vegetables in a person's diet,
and may decrease or increase risk of the disease by similar margins, yet
there's much less alarm around these findings.
Small but meaningful
Indeed, the small advantages to
eating less processed meat could be especially meaningful, seeing as some other
breast cancer risk factors are unchangeable, such as whether women have the
breast cancer gene or how young they were when they started menstruation,
Farvid said. "You may say it's hard
to change your diet," she said, "but
that at least is modifiable."
Both
Farvid and McCullough advise paying attention to how much processed meat you
consume, which, as McCullough said, is part of the American Cancer Society’s
current dietary recommentations for minimizing the risk of cancer.
"Rich in plants and low in red and processed meats is a
recommendation similar to other healthy diet patterns," McCullough told Live Science.
As time goes on,
researchers will be better equipped to investigate risk factors for subtypes of
cancers, she adds, which could provide more details about what snacks, exactly,
play a role in our health.
Leslie Nemo, Live Science Contributor
Leslie Nemo is a science journalist based in Brooklyn.
Read more of her work at leslienemo.com or
find her on twitter @leslie_nemo.
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