Consumption of red and processed meat could trigger bowel cancer, the World Health Organisation has warned. 

A group of 22 WHO experts from 10 countries revealed the findings at the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) after thoroughly reviewing accumulated scientific literature.

"For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed,” said Dr Kurt Straif, the head of the IARC monographs programmed in a statement released by WHO on Monday.

Whilst consumption of meat varies greatly between countries, experts concluded that each 50-gramme portion of processed meat eaten daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 per cent. Evidence linking red meat and cancer is however limited.

”These findings further support current public health recommendations to limit intake of meat. At the same time, red meat has nutritional value. Therefore, these results are important in enabling governments and international regulatory agencies to conduct risk assessments for better dietary recommendations,” said Dr Christopher Wild, the director of IARC. "

Although this association was mainly observed for colorectal cancer, associations were also seen for pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer.

Red, processed meat

The study, published in the Journal of Oncology, defines red meat as all types of mammalian muscle meat such as beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse, and goat, whereas processed meat is further transformed through salting, curing, fermentation, smoking, or other processes to enhance flavour or improve preservation.

However, most processed meats contain pork or beef, but processed meats may also contain other red meats, poultry, offal, or meat by-products such as blood and examples include hot dogs (frankfurters), ham, sausages, corned beef, and biltong or beef jerky as well as canned meat and meat-based preparations and sauces.

Alice Murerwa, a nutritionist at Ruhengeri District Hospital, said processed meat is carcinogenic because of harmful chemicals and preservatives meat accumulates along the food chain.

"Take an example of beef or chicken used to make sausages. Before they reach the processing area, a lot of chemicals are used in feeds or directly. On top of these chemicals we have the preservatives which when consumed in huge amounts trigger cancer growth,” Murerwa explains.

Similarly, Rene Tabaro, a nutritionist at King Faisal Hospital, Kigali, said red meat is dangerous because of the herbicides and fungicides humans usually consume in beef.

"People use herbicides and fungicides to clear fields. When a cow grazes in the field, it will eat grass that has been sprayed using a certain chemical. After eating meat, most of these chemicals when inside the body generate free radicals. These radicals are highly reactive and can attack body cells to cause cancer,” Tabaro said.

According to IARC, 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide are attributable to diets high in processed meat and if this link with red meat were confirmed, close to 50,000 deaths worldwide would be attributed to diets.

This compares with about one million cancer deaths per year globally due to tobacco smoking, 600,000 a year due to alcohol consumption, and more than 200,000 each year due to air pollution.

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