Processed Meat Consumption Linked to Cancers

New findings in a Uruguayan study published recently in the British Journal of Cancer revealed that eating large amounts of processed meat definitively increases the chances of developing colon, rectum, stomach, esophagus, and lung cancers. University of the Republic in Montevideo researchers looked at data spanning from 1996 to 2004 of 6,060 men and women—a control group of 2,532 and 3,528 of which had cancer (including esophagus, stomach, colon, and kidney)—and found all the cancers except renal cell carcinoma (kidney) to be “significantly associated with elevated risks for processed meat consumption.” The researchers also found that the processed meats with the strongest cancer-site ties were mortadella, salami, hot dog, ham, and salted meat.