There is no need to cut out red meat completely says nutritional experts. Photo: Shutterstock
Remember the UN/WHO report that linked eating processed meat and certain red meats as being potentially cancer-causing?
The report has sparked controversy internationally as it was seen as the agency telling people to stop eating meat altogether.
The report analysed 800 studies from around the world and concluded that processed meat such as sausages, ham, hotdogs can cause colon cancer. It also said that red meat would ‘probably’ cause colorectal cancer.
Meat producers slammed the report, with Australia’s agriculture minister calling it “a farce”, and the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) saying the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) “tortured the data to ensure a specific outcome”.
The UN agency cited research attributing about 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide to diets high in processed meat.
The agency acknowledged this was dwarfed by the estimated one million cancer deaths attributed to tobacco smoking, 600,000 to alcohol use, and more than 200,000 to air pollution every year.
But it warned its data did “not permit” the determination of a safe meat quota.
The WHO however stressed that that IARC’s review merely confirmed the UN health agency’s 2002 diet and nutrition recommendations, urging people “to moderate consumption of preserved meat to reduce the risk of cancer.”
“The latest IARC review does not ask people to stop eating processed meats but indicates that reducing consumption of these products can reduce the risk of colorectal cancer,” WHO said in a statement.
It pointed out that it has a standing group of experts who regularly evaluate the links between diet and disease.
“Early next year they will meet to begin looking at the public health implications of the latest science and the place of processed meat and red meat within the context of an overall healthy diet,” WHO said.
Maybe just eat less of processed meat instead out cutting it out completely, say experts. Photo: Filepic
No need to stop eating meat
By the IARC’s own account, meat has “known health benefits”.
And the agency says it does not know what a safe meat quota would be – or even if there is one.
Other specialists insist the report is no reason to drop steak from the menu, though it is probably wise for big eaters of it to cut back.
Meat is a good source of key nutrients like zinc, protein and vitamin B12, they point out, as well as iron, which humans absorb more easily from meat than from plants.
“This decision doesn’t mean you need to stop eating any red and processed meat,” says Tim Key, an epidemiologist at Cancer Research UK.
“But if you eat lots of it, you may want to think about cutting down. You could try having fish for your dinner rather than sausages, or choosing to have a bean salad for lunch over a BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich).”
Nutritionist Elizabeth Lund from Norfolk in England says obesity and lack of exercise were a far bigger cancer risks.
“Overall, I feel that eating meat once a day combined with plenty of fruit, vegetable and cereal fibre plus exercise and weight control, will allow for a low risk of CRC,” she says, referring to colorectal cancer.
“It should also be noted that some studies have shown that if meat is consumed with vegetables or a high-fibre diet, the risk of CRC is reduced.”
Ian Johnson of the UK-based Institute of Food Research, says meat consumption was “probably one of many” factors contributing to relatively high rates of bowel cancer in the US, Western Europe and Australia – parts of the developed world where more meat has traditionally been eaten.
However, “there is little or no evidence that vegetarians in the UK have lower risk of bowel cancer than meat-eaters,” he said.
The specialists point out that the cancer risk posed by a meaty diet was statistically much lower than other factors like tobacco smoking and air pollution.
The IARC report “does not mean… that eating bacon is as bad as smoking,” says University of Reading nutrition expert Gunter Kuhnle.
“Processed meat can be part of a healthy lifestyle – smoking can’t”.
Generally, dietary advice is to limit red-meat intake to once or twice a week, says nutrition professor Tom Sanders of King’s College London — the equivalent of about two steaks or three hamburgers.
“The problem with this issue is that food is not like tobacco – we have to eat something.” – AFP Relaxnews