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Processed Meats and Stomach Cancer: Should You Worry?

August 2nd, 2006

Researchers in Sweden’s Karolinska Institute have looked at the results of fifteen different studies into the correlation of eating processed meats (bacon, ham, sausage, salami, etc.) and incidence of stomach cancer. The results are troubling, but in perspective, may not be quite as bad as they seem.

Stated results are that the risk of developing stomach cancer increased by 15 to 38 percent if consumption of processed meats increased by a mere one ounce per day.

How bad this is depends on the baseline chance of developing stomach cancer. If the average person has a seven percent chance of contracting stomach cancer, this is really bad news. If, however, the true figure is a .07 percent chance, it is less so. Further, it is quite possibly the nitrates or excessive salts that are responsible for causing the cancer either directly or through their effect on gut bacteria.

If that turns out to be the case, low-sodium or organic preserved meat products may be a better choice. In the mean time, perhaps you should spare that bacon in favor of a chop or steak.

It is hard to give a meaningful figure for the average person’s chance of developing stomach cancer, due to the many known risk factors, including genetics.

Technorati Tags: meat, cancer, stomach, health, diet

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