What are your opinions on the World Health's Organization information regarding processed meats, sausage, hot dogs, etc. being as bad as smoking?

It surprises me that people are making such a big deal out of it.

(A) The science has been available for many years. I knew this as a kid.
(B) Don’t eat cured meats daily.

No, not surprising.

I will continue to eat local, organic meats (cured or not), as well as mass-produced organic meats with minimal, natural curing. And I will feed those products to my kids. It will surprise me if it is found that they cause cancer at the same rate as commonly available cured meats. Also, I will continue to eat 8–10 servings of (mostly) vegetables and (some) fruit.

The industry is going to throw a fit.

“As bad as smoking” ?

Smoking is a habit in which people indulge daily, usually multiple times a day.

The same is not true for processed meats like hot dogs, etc. Most people don’t eat it daily and certainly not as many times per day as smoking a cigarette.

So, how can it possibly be “as bad as”. Something about that statement is less than accurate.

There are plenty of pack a day smokers. How many people do you know who eat as many hot dogs or sausages as there are cigarettes in a pack every day all day? I’ve never encountered any.

I call BS on “as bad as”.

I was thinking “no shit” when I read the news.
I know people who never smoked but ate this stuff and have heart disease. I know people who smoked like a chimney and don’t appear to have any adverse health affects other than compromised lung function. I think it depends on so many factors but as bad as smoking…probably.

I fully agree with the WHO. I think the problem is not so much the meat itself but that sausages, bacon, and other processed meats contain nitrites. Sodium nitrite added to these meats lead to nitrosamines when the food is mixed with stomach acids. Nitrosamines are some the most potent carcinogens known. I learned this in biochemistry class way back in the 60’s. I’m surprised that it took the WHO so long to make that declaration.

I’m skeptical about the nitrites being the major culprit.

No surprise, not news.

Surprised that the WHO put it out there!
That took a lot of kahunas coming from them!
No politics, big business, lobbyists, etc.
The implication of the action, itself, is big news!

Statistically, it isn’t really that big of a deal. It is NOT as bad as smoking!

There is about a 6 percent incidence of bowel cancer over the course of a lifetime. Eating processed meats every day raises the chances by 18%, so out of 100 people who eat processed meats every day, one more person would get colo-rectal cancer.

AND the WHO qualified the statement with “This decision doesn’t mean you need to stop eating any red and processed meat, but if you eat lots of it you may want to think about cutting down.”

@zenvelo

Ahhh, a refreshing voice of sanity at last.

While most of us have known for quite a while that processed meats with nitrites, nitrates etc. aren’t exactly health foods, I just couldn’t imagine that they do the same degree of harm as cigarettes for the reasons I’ve already mentioned.

The sticking point for me was the “as bad as” part. I just couldn’t imagine a responsible organization scaremongering to that extreme.

It doesn’t really affect me personally because I’ve never liked hot dogs, sausages or bacon, so it’s a rare day that finds me eating any of them anyhow. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s heretical, but I really am one of the few people on the planet who doesn’t swoon rapturously at the thought of eating bacon. I love the smell of it but it’s the actual eating it part that I can’t get enthused about. It’s just way too much salt overkill :)

But nevertheless, good to know it’s not “as bad as” cigarettes by any stretch of the imagination.

Short of working daily in a toxic chemical plant, there are few things on this planet which are “as bad as” daily cigarette smoking.