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Processed Meat Pancreatic Cancer Risk



Here’s a disgusting headline: Processed meat consumption results in 6700% increase in pancreatic cancer risk, says new research, although a BBC article on the same topic says that the increased risk is “only” 67%. The research comes from the University of Hawaii which claims that it’s not the meat itself, but the way that it’s processed that is so dangerous. The non-BBC article says:

The true cause of the heightened cancer risk is the widespread use of a carcinogenic precursor ingredient known as sodium nitrite by food processing companies, says nutritionist Mike Adams […]

Nearly all processed meats are made with sodium nitrite: breakfast sausage, hot dogs, jerkies, bacon, lunch meat, and even meats in canned soup products. […]

“Sodium nitrite is a dangerous, cancer-causing ingredient that has no place in the human food supply,” he explains. The USDA actually tried to ban sodium nitrite in the 1970’s, but was preempted by the meat processing industry, which relies on the ingredient as a color fixer to make foods look more visually appealing. “The meat industry uses sodium nitrite to sell more meat products at the expense of public health,” says Adams.

Not bacon! Say it isn’t so. I mean, obviously hot dogs and shit are bad for you, but bacon, that’s just too much. (Notice how I didn’t even comment on the whole thing about the meat industry ignoring public health concerns; that’s because nobody should be surprised by shit like that.)

And here’s a fun article to while away the day with: How to give yourself cancer in five easy steps.







6 Reader Responses

  1. slomo Says:
    June 22nd, 2005 at 8:18 pm

    I’d want to take a look at the journal article before believing it. 6700% increase means an odds ratio of 68, which I have never before seen in my preofessional life. Unless the sample size is, like, n=4, in which case the result is meaningless. An odds ratio of 1.67 (66% increase in risk) is more likely, or maybe even 6.7 (570% increase in risk).

    Not to say that sodium nitrite isn’t bad. I avoid that stuff as much as possible. ‘Course I don’t eat meat.

  2. slomo Says:
    June 22nd, 2005 at 8:20 pm

    Sorry, I mean OR=1.67 corresponds to 67% increase in risk. Not that anyone besides myself is pedantic enough to care…

  3. slomo Says:
    June 22nd, 2005 at 8:29 pm

    OH, the other thing is that nutritional studies are notoriously difficult to do properly. Nutritional studies are usually based on questionnaires, with perhaps a validation component to the study. Questionnaires of this sort are prone to recall bias. But if you’re looking at long-term effects in a population with a very diverse diet, such as the US, even the validation component can’t really validate a person’s nutritional history all that well.

    To get an odds ratio of 68, you would basically have to see all of the cases using sodium nitrite and almost none of the controls. Since lots of people eat processed meat, and pancreatic cancer is relatively rare, it would be difficult to get a data set like that unless you were cherry picking the data.

    1.67 sounds about right. It’s well within the range of typical epidemiology studies, and a 67% increase would be considered on the higher side.

    So, what I’m saying is that processed meat is bad and should be avoided. But sloppy science reporting is also bad and should be avoided.

  4. Haeresis Says:
    June 22nd, 2005 at 8:44 pm

    Neiman Ranch makes nitrite free, organic bacon if you can’t live without.

  5. Occult Investigator Says:
    June 22nd, 2005 at 9:12 pm

    yeah 6700% seemed like a crock of shit. thats why i found that BBC article. either way though, that shits obviously bad for you

  6. Inspired: Abundance » Good God Fast And Furious Food Links Says:
    August 2nd, 2007 at 5:04 pm

    […] Processed meat increases pancreatic cancer risk […]



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