Study: Processed Meats May Increase Colorectal Cancer Risk by 50 Percent

Eating processed meats regularly may significantly increase the risk of colorectal cancer, according to a study coordinated by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Researchers studied almost 500,000 people from southern Greece to northern Norway and said they found no link between red meat as a whole and colorectal cancer.

But they did find that eating meats such as salami, bacon, cured ham, and hot dogs may increase a person's risk of developing colorectal cancer, according to Dr. Elio Riboli, chief of the nutrition division at the International Agency for Research on Cancer and coordinator of the study.

The researchers, reporting at the European Conference on Nutrition and Cancer in Lyon, France, said people who ate an average of 2 ounces per day of processed meats had a 50 percent greater chance of developing colorectal cancer than those who ate none.

"These results are very preliminary," said Dr. Arthur Schatzkin, chief of nutritional epidemiology at the National Cancer Institute. "There's more narrowing down that has to be done before we can draw any conclusions."

Factors such as cooking methods and duration, and cuts of meat, need to be considered, according to the researchers who speculate that frying or barbecuing may add cancer-promoting chemicals to meat and that cooking meat until it is well done may also add undesirable compounds.

Other sources: International Agency for Research on Cancer, AP