Page 146 - How to Be a Conscious Eater - Making Food Choices That Are Good for You

PROCESSED MEATS: CONSUME WITH CAUTION
According to the World Health Organization, eating processed
meat causes cancer.

BEEF JERKY SAUSAGE
SALAMI

CANNED
MEAT
CORNED BACON
BEEF
HAM

HOT DOGS JARRED MEAT SAUCES

with similar caution since the American Institute for Cancer
Research (AICR) puts them in the same boat. Americans tend
to consume such a relatively small amount of smoked salmon
and the like that the association isn’t as clear in the research
data. I’m afraid that, for now, this is one of those “more research
is needed” moments. But the AICR also notes that preserving
foods in general through salting (including pickled vegetables)
increases the risk of stomach cancer, and one study of a spe-
cific type of cured fish—Cantonese-style salted fish—found an
increased risk of nasopharyngeal cancer.
Even though eating poultry or fish instead of red meat
might help protect against some cancers, and even though it’s
the red meats that pose additional concerns, opting for turkey
bacon over pork bacon or chicken sausage over beef sausage or
smoked whitefish over roast beef doesn’t necessarily get you
off the hook. The reason is that the root issue is the processing,

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