WHO says my bacon is not good for me :-(

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Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    amberlyda1 wrote: »
    I love my organic bacon! Its not so much the bacon and meat...its the processing. Lots of people will defend processed foods, diet sodas, GMo etc. They will say they are totally safe. I personally believe that our bodies were not designed to handle and metabolize these science experiments we are putting into our bodies. Study after study has come out and shown that some of these artificial ingredients cause cancer or significantly up our chances of getting cancer. I dont have time to pull them up right now, but the studies are easy to find. I pulled up a snap shot of Oscar myer bacon ingredients. If you cant pronounce it, it probably shouldn't go in your body.

    b581bwh9yosf.jpg

    Right.. because a seedless orange is bound to kill me.

    And there has not been any credible study to suggest gmo is bad. But if you have a non Monsanto study i am always interested.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    psulemon wrote: »
    amberlyda1 wrote: »
    I love my organic bacon! Its not so much the bacon and meat...its the processing. Lots of people will defend processed foods, diet sodas, GMo etc. They will say they are totally safe. I personally believe that our bodies were not designed to handle and metabolize these science experiments we are putting into our bodies. Study after study has come out and shown that some of these artificial ingredients cause cancer or significantly up our chances of getting cancer. I dont have time to pull them up right now, but the studies are easy to find. I pulled up a snap shot of Oscar myer bacon ingredients. If you cant pronounce it, it probably shouldn't go in your body.

    b581bwh9yosf.jpg

    Right.. because a seedless orange is bound to kill me.

    And there has not been any credible study to suggest gmo is bad. But if you have a non Monsanto study i am always interested.

    I don't think seedless oranges are GMO
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    alexjvolk wrote: »
    emyaj_xo wrote: »
    What about switching to organic, uncured bacon? I imagine that is significantly healthier than your standard, nitrate laden bacon.

    precisely.

    uncured bacon would still be smoked pork belly and therefore still a processed meat.

    also, it still includes ingredients with a lot of nitrates.

    Would organic contain added nitrates? Has nitrates been identified as the carcinogen?

    Celery powder. In organic bacon and hot dogs. "natural" nitrates.

    Does all organic bacon contain celery powder or some other form of added nitrate? Is it comparable in risk or makeup to whatever nitrates are added to your run of the mill bacon?

    comparable. Also, "uncured" is misleading as organic products cured with celery powder can be labeled "uncured".

    http://fyi.uwex.edu/meats/files/2012/02/Nitrate-and-nitrite-in-cured-meat_10-18-2012.pdf

    Interesting. I think things like this are why some people would rather just stick to whole natural foods.

    Now that food sources can be varied we lose the perspective of how important to human survival the discovery of curing meat was for food safety.

    The curing process makes those products A LOT safer overall, as bacterial growth on meat (and its inhibition increasing shelf life) is a huge food safety issue, certainly more important than cancer...

    I'm sure it was and probably still is in some areas, but times have changed.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    alexjvolk wrote: »
    emyaj_xo wrote: »
    What about switching to organic, uncured bacon? I imagine that is significantly healthier than your standard, nitrate laden bacon.

    precisely.

    uncured bacon would still be smoked pork belly and therefore still a processed meat.

    also, it still includes ingredients with a lot of nitrates.

    Would organic contain added nitrates? Has nitrates been identified as the carcinogen?

    Celery powder. In organic bacon and hot dogs. "natural" nitrates.

    Does all organic bacon contain celery powder or some other form of added nitrate? Is it comparable in risk or makeup to whatever nitrates are added to your run of the mill bacon?

    comparable. Also, "uncured" is misleading as organic products cured with celery powder can be labeled "uncured".

    http://fyi.uwex.edu/meats/files/2012/02/Nitrate-and-nitrite-in-cured-meat_10-18-2012.pdf

    Interesting. I think things like this are why some people would rather just stick to whole natural foods.

    Now that food sources can be varied we lose the perspective of how important to human survival the discovery of curing meat was for food safety.

    The curing process makes those products A LOT safer overall, as bacterial growth on meat (and its inhibition increasing shelf life) is a huge food safety issue, certainly more important than cancer...

    I'm sure it was and probably still is in some areas, but times have changed.

    Yes, now we have the advanced sophisticated technology of refrigeration, which means you should go back to as primitive as possible ways to store your meat and keep it as un-sophisticated and unprocessed as possible.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    senecarr wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    alexjvolk wrote: »
    emyaj_xo wrote: »
    What about switching to organic, uncured bacon? I imagine that is significantly healthier than your standard, nitrate laden bacon.

    precisely.

    uncured bacon would still be smoked pork belly and therefore still a processed meat.

    also, it still includes ingredients with a lot of nitrates.

    Would organic contain added nitrates? Has nitrates been identified as the carcinogen?

    Celery powder. In organic bacon and hot dogs. "natural" nitrates.

    Does all organic bacon contain celery powder or some other form of added nitrate? Is it comparable in risk or makeup to whatever nitrates are added to your run of the mill bacon?

    comparable. Also, "uncured" is misleading as organic products cured with celery powder can be labeled "uncured".

    http://fyi.uwex.edu/meats/files/2012/02/Nitrate-and-nitrite-in-cured-meat_10-18-2012.pdf

    Interesting. I think things like this are why some people would rather just stick to whole natural foods.

    Now that food sources can be varied we lose the perspective of how important to human survival the discovery of curing meat was for food safety.

    The curing process makes those products A LOT safer overall, as bacterial growth on meat (and its inhibition increasing shelf life) is a huge food safety issue, certainly more important than cancer...

    I'm sure it was and probably still is in some areas, but times have changed.

    Yes, now we have the advanced sophisticated technology of refrigeration, which means you should go back to as primitive as possible ways to store your meat and keep it as un-sophisticated and unprocessed as possible.

    Why?
  • Wetcoaster
    Wetcoaster Posts: 1,788 Member
    As Professor Phillips explains, “IARC does ‘hazard identification’, not ‘risk assessment’.

    “That sounds quite technical, but what it means is that IARC isn’t in the business of telling us how potent something is in causing cancer – only whether it does so or not”, he says.

    To take an analogy, think of banana skins. They definitely can cause accidents, explains Phillips, but in practice this doesn’t happen very often (unless you work in a banana factory). And the sort of harm you can come to from slipping on a banana skin isn’t generally as severe as, say, being in a car accident.

    But under a hazard identification system like IARC’s, ‘banana skins’ and ‘cars’ would come under the same category – they both definitely do cause accidents.



    http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/10/26/processed-meat-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
    senecarr wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    alexjvolk wrote: »
    emyaj_xo wrote: »
    What about switching to organic, uncured bacon? I imagine that is significantly healthier than your standard, nitrate laden bacon.

    precisely.

    uncured bacon would still be smoked pork belly and therefore still a processed meat.

    also, it still includes ingredients with a lot of nitrates.

    Would organic contain added nitrates? Has nitrates been identified as the carcinogen?

    Celery powder. In organic bacon and hot dogs. "natural" nitrates.

    Does all organic bacon contain celery powder or some other form of added nitrate? Is it comparable in risk or makeup to whatever nitrates are added to your run of the mill bacon?

    comparable. Also, "uncured" is misleading as organic products cured with celery powder can be labeled "uncured".

    http://fyi.uwex.edu/meats/files/2012/02/Nitrate-and-nitrite-in-cured-meat_10-18-2012.pdf

    Interesting. I think things like this are why some people would rather just stick to whole natural foods.

    Now that food sources can be varied we lose the perspective of how important to human survival the discovery of curing meat was for food safety.

    The curing process makes those products A LOT safer overall, as bacterial growth on meat (and its inhibition increasing shelf life) is a huge food safety issue, certainly more important than cancer...

    I'm sure it was and probably still is in some areas, but times have changed.

    Yes, now we have the advanced sophisticated technology of refrigeration, which means you should go back to as primitive as possible ways to store your meat and keep it as un-sophisticated and unprocessed as possible.

    Why?

    I don't know, I'm an advocate of sarcasm, rather than an advocate of whole, unprocessed, unrefined, not convenience (would that be inconvenience?), organic, non-GMO verified foods.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    senecarr wrote: »
    senecarr wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    alexjvolk wrote: »
    emyaj_xo wrote: »
    What about switching to organic, uncured bacon? I imagine that is significantly healthier than your standard, nitrate laden bacon.

    precisely.

    uncured bacon would still be smoked pork belly and therefore still a processed meat.

    also, it still includes ingredients with a lot of nitrates.

    Would organic contain added nitrates? Has nitrates been identified as the carcinogen?

    Celery powder. In organic bacon and hot dogs. "natural" nitrates.

    Does all organic bacon contain celery powder or some other form of added nitrate? Is it comparable in risk or makeup to whatever nitrates are added to your run of the mill bacon?

    comparable. Also, "uncured" is misleading as organic products cured with celery powder can be labeled "uncured".

    http://fyi.uwex.edu/meats/files/2012/02/Nitrate-and-nitrite-in-cured-meat_10-18-2012.pdf

    Interesting. I think things like this are why some people would rather just stick to whole natural foods.

    Now that food sources can be varied we lose the perspective of how important to human survival the discovery of curing meat was for food safety.

    The curing process makes those products A LOT safer overall, as bacterial growth on meat (and its inhibition increasing shelf life) is a huge food safety issue, certainly more important than cancer...

    I'm sure it was and probably still is in some areas, but times have changed.

    Yes, now we have the advanced sophisticated technology of refrigeration, which means you should go back to as primitive as possible ways to store your meat and keep it as un-sophisticated and unprocessed as possible.

    Why?

    I don't know, I'm an advocate of sarcasm, rather than an advocate of whole, unprocessed, unrefined, not convenience (would that be inconvenience?), organic, non-GMO verified foods.

    Not sure what that has to do with storing meat, but since we're sharing, I'm rather a fan of both.
  • snikkins
    snikkins Posts: 1,282 Member
    Wetcoaster wrote: »
    As Professor Phillips explains, “IARC does ‘hazard identification’, not ‘risk assessment’.

    “That sounds quite technical, but what it means is that IARC isn’t in the business of telling us how potent something is in causing cancer – only whether it does so or not”, he says.

    To take an analogy, think of banana skins. They definitely can cause accidents, explains Phillips, but in practice this doesn’t happen very often (unless you work in a banana factory). And the sort of harm you can come to from slipping on a banana skin isn’t generally as severe as, say, being in a car accident.

    But under a hazard identification system like IARC’s, ‘banana skins’ and ‘cars’ would come under the same category – they both definitely do cause accidents.



    http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/10/26/processed-meat-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/

    Get out of here with your common sense. ;)

    I like this perspective a lot.
  • SuggaD
    SuggaD Posts: 1,369 Member
    All things in moderation. Balanced diet. Active lifestyle. No smoking. Social drinker. Live life to the fullest. And love. I really think that's the best we can do. I'm not going to worry about every little thing that is linked to cancer. I'll stick with my almost daily 2 strips of bacon, pork chops, sausages and hot dogs, and ham on occasion.
  • CurlyCockney
    CurlyCockney Posts: 1,394 Member
    Oh wow, lots of responses here! Thank you everyone! Just to clarify, I wasn't worried I'd get cancer from 2 rashers of bacon. It was more about my circumstances + bacon + frustration because I'd forgotten how much I love bacon until recently.

    As (bad) luck would have it, I've been at the hospital most of today and part of it was with a dietician - who said I have to cut back on bacon anyway. Nothing to do with cancer though; I was seeing her about newly-diagnosed prediabetes. She didn't say I have to cut it out completely, just not have it every day (as well as spreading my food out more, somethingsomething glycemic load - I'm very tired and can't remember it all). She's very happy with what I'm eating other than that though, including my lovely lovely carbs, and is delighted at my 26lb loss :-)
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    edited October 2015
    suzan06 wrote: »
    My mom is a colon cancer survivor.

    The great thing about colon cancer is it is easily detectable and pretty treatable (as long as you are ok living with no colon for the rest of your life ;) ). I am a vegetarian so I have no hat in the bacon ring, but my general opinion from what I know about colon, which sadly is a lot, is that if you are making unhealthy colon choices, you better be prepared to poop your brains out for 24 hours and then have them rotoroot you the minute you turn 50, and then regularly after that.

    Best read about colonscopies: Dave Barry.

    My family has a lot of colon humor. We ask for group discounts on our rotorootings. Anesthesia never feels better than at a colonoscopy, trust me.

    That Dave Barry article was a good one and is worth a read for anyone who has hit or is about to hit 50 years of age. :)

    Many posters here are young enough that they cannot even imagine turning fifty. That's something that will happen to them when they're a whole different person! We've all been that young. :)

    But it's a good read for the older people.

    http://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article1928847.html
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    I'm lost. We can't eat bacon because of nitrates. Nitrates are from the celery powder. But, we can eat all the celery we want (with MUCH higher levels of nitrates) because natural?
  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,646 Member
    edited October 2015
    auddii wrote: »
    I'm lost. We can't eat bacon because of nitrates. Nitrates are from the celery powder. But, we can eat all the celery we want (with MUCH higher levels of nitrates) because natural?

    we don't typically pan fry celery...that's one difference.

    But, even in non-organic bacon they add this chemical called sodium ascorbate, which serves as an anti-oxidant to reduce any nitrosamines formed during cooking bacon at all but high temperatures. So much of the "damage" is mitigated by the addition of this hard to pronounce chemical that is essential for human life (and it's expected to be consumed in cooking which is why bacon, and other foods preserved with vitamin C are often poor sources of it even though it's there).

    Much of the nitrosamines you may be exposed to from celery powder (which has lower nitrIte but mainly nitrAte)come from nitrates reduced to nitrite and then formed naturally in within the body.

    Also a take home is that burning bacon makes it "worse" (as is typically the case with any chargrilled meat).
  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    edited October 2015
    auddii wrote: »
    I'm lost. We can't eat bacon because of nitrates. Nitrates are from the celery powder. But, we can eat all the celery we want (with MUCH higher levels of nitrates) because natural?

    Processing!!! Hello??!!

    (Or something like that)
  • OneHundredToLose
    OneHundredToLose Posts: 8,523 Member
    You can be an absolute health nut and only ever eat organic, grass-fed grass and bathe in hand sanitizer every night and still get cancer. Or you can be a guy who smokes 4 packs a day and only eats steak and grease and never get cancer.

    It's a crapshoot.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    Nobody is telling anyone what to eat.

    Some people want to know how to decrease their risk for disease and want to adapt their diet and lifestyle in ways that will decrease the risk. They can take this info and choose to eat less processed meat.

    Other people don't worry about it. They can take this info and dismiss it.

    Either way.

    Having the info allows us to make choices. It's not a bad thing to have, per se.
  • kk_inprogress
    kk_inprogress Posts: 3,077 Member
    Kalikel wrote: »
    Nobody is telling anyone what to eat.

    Some people want to know how to decrease their risk for disease and want to adapt their diet and lifestyle in ways that will decrease the risk. They can take this info and choose to eat less processed meat.

    Other people don't worry about it. They can take this info and dismiss it.

    Either way.

    Having the info allows us to make choices. It's not a bad thing to have, per se.

    It's a great thing to have information, but assuming that people who eat processed meat aren't interested in decreasing their risk for disease is just that- an assumption.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
    You can be an absolute health nut and only ever eat organic, grass-fed grass and bathe in hand sanitizer every night and still get cancer. Or you can be a guy who smokes 4 packs a day and only eats steak and grease and never get cancer.

    It's a crapshoot.

    Hand sanitizer is a class 1A (at least manufacture of) carcinogen, so...
  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,646 Member
    edited October 2015
    You can be an absolute health nut and only ever eat organic, grass-fed grass and bathe in hand sanitizer every night and still get cancer. Or you can be a guy who smokes 4 packs a day and only eats steak and grease and never get cancer.

    It's a crapshoot.

    bathe in hand sanitizer?

    (are you serious that nobody has giffed "that's really going to chafe my willie" from Robin Hood Men in Tights/)
  • OneHundredToLose
    OneHundredToLose Posts: 8,523 Member
    senecarr wrote: »
    You can be an absolute health nut and only ever eat organic, grass-fed grass and bathe in hand sanitizer every night and still get cancer. Or you can be a guy who smokes 4 packs a day and only eats steak and grease and never get cancer.

    It's a crapshoot.

    Hand sanitizer is a class 1A (at least manufacture of) carcinogen, so...

    Don't stop to smell the roses, the sunlight will give you cancer
  • This content has been removed.
  • cmarangi
    cmarangi Posts: 131 Member
    There is actually research that also suggests that nitrates aren't necessarily as bad as they've been touted. All that to say "studies" can really bend the data to go whichever way you would like. You have to look at things like who is doing the study, who is paying, how the data was collected, etc. Processed anything really isn't good. Even Nitrate Free bacon uses nitrates that occur naturally (celery juice). Just don't live on bacon alone, and you will probably be just fine.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    kkenseth wrote: »
    Kalikel wrote: »
    Nobody is telling anyone what to eat.

    Some people want to know how to decrease their risk for disease and want to adapt their diet and lifestyle in ways that will decrease the risk. They can take this info and choose to eat less processed meat.

    Other people don't worry about it. They can take this info and dismiss it.

    Either way.

    Having the info allows us to make choices. It's not a bad thing to have, per se.

    It's a great thing to have information, but assuming that people who eat processed meat aren't interested in decreasing their risk for disease is just that- an assumption.
    I totally agree with this. I'm so happy to able to agree with you. :)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    _John_ wrote: »
    auddii wrote: »
    I'm lost. We can't eat bacon because of nitrates. Nitrates are from the celery powder. But, we can eat all the celery we want (with MUCH higher levels of nitrates) because natural?

    we don't typically pan fry celery...that's one difference.

    Is that really true? Celery isn't a terribly uncommon ingredient for a stir fry, and a mirepoix is a common base for all sorts of things, and normally includes celery. Is it just a matter of amount, or are we to think that this would have a similar risk (whatever it may be) to eating bacon and other processed meats.

    I'm kind of intrigued by this.
  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,646 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    _John_ wrote: »
    auddii wrote: »
    I'm lost. We can't eat bacon because of nitrates. Nitrates are from the celery powder. But, we can eat all the celery we want (with MUCH higher levels of nitrates) because natural?

    we don't typically pan fry celery...that's one difference.

    Is that really true? Celery isn't a terribly uncommon ingredient for a stir fry, and a mirepoix is a common base for all sorts of things, and normally includes celery. Is it just a matter of amount, or are we to think that this would have a similar risk (whatever it may be) to eating bacon and other processed meats.

    I'm kind of intrigued by this.

    In one article I seemed to recall a reaction with the proteins, but I can't remember (of all people I should know this, But I studied arsenic/aflatoxin/drinking water mainly...
  • mysteps2beauty
    mysteps2beauty Posts: 493 Member
    hekla90 wrote: »
    Keep in mind that WHO is largely a political organization.

    Their chief concern is politics not health.

    I didn't realise that, thanks! I'll look into their motivation a bit more - when I've finished eating this ;-)


    I'd like to point out they made no specific guidelines or recommendations based off this. It was a meta analysis of over 800 studies, not exactly new information. People sure are up in arms about it though.

    Lots of paleo people out there who absolutely enjoy their meat...
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    edited October 2015
    psulemon wrote: »
    amberlyda1 wrote: »
    I love my organic bacon! Its not so much the bacon and meat...its the processing. Lots of people will defend processed foods, diet sodas, GMo etc. They will say they are totally safe. I personally believe that our bodies were not designed to handle and metabolize these science experiments we are putting into our bodies. Study after study has come out and shown that some of these artificial ingredients cause cancer or significantly up our chances of getting cancer. I dont have time to pull them up right now, but the studies are easy to find. I pulled up a snap shot of Oscar myer bacon ingredients. If you cant pronounce it, it probably shouldn't go in your body.

    b581bwh9yosf.jpg

    Right.. because a seedless orange is bound to kill me.

    And there has not been any credible study to suggest gmo is bad. But if you have a non Monsanto study i am always interested.

    I don't think seedless oranges are GMO

    My mistake.. they are hybrids.. A better example would have been Hawaiian Papaya...
  • OneHundredToLose
    OneHundredToLose Posts: 8,523 Member
    I love the argument "If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it". Half the people I see posting on here would die of starvation.

    Not to mention that literally every food has the chemical DiHydrogen Monoxide in it. Watch out! Scary chemicals will kill you!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,431 MFP Moderator
    I love the argument "If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it". Half the people I see posting on here would die of starvation.

    Not to mention that literally every food has the chemical DiHydrogen Monoxide in it. Watch out! Scary chemicals will kill you!

    i5FL3.jpg
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