3. Processed Meats
“Get you hot dogs!” That’s the familiar cry heard at ballparks all over, but wait just a minute. Hot dogs are a processed meat—they’ve been treated in some way to preserve their shelf life or to improve their flavor. This “processing” can be done by salting, curing, fermenting, smoking, or preserving in some other way. After reviewing 800 studies, The World Health Organization announced that process meats are a carcinogen (i.e. they can cause cancer). They reported that eating the equivalent of four slices of bacon daily (or eating four slices of bacon daily) raises the risk of getting colorectal cancer by 18 percent. The risk is low but present. Meats that fall into this category are not sold fresh and include ham, turkey, some deli, bacon, sausage and of course, hot dogs.
4. Red Meat
Do you remember the World Health Organization (WHO) from #3? They also looked at red meat studies and concluded that red meat is a “probable” cause of cancer in humans. They found links between eating red meat and colorectal, prosatate and pancreatic cancers. Enjoying small amounts of grass-fed red meat occasionally is very different from eating quantities of red meat daily, and the WHO parks pork in the red meat category.