It's been a debate for a while whether processed meat like bacon, hot dogs, ham and sausages can be a threat to the human body or not. This Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared this information as positive, also stating that red meat might lead to the same diseases.

The number of studies that have been made by the World Health Organization, show that this kind of meat can cause bowel cancer, bladder cancer, breast and kidney cancer, and it can also cause leukemia, prostate cancer etc. Processed meats are also a reason for a number of heart diseases. The WHO describes processed meat as any meat (e.g.

bacon, beef, ham, hot dogs and sausages) that is made to prolong its shelf life, and that is usually done by smoking, curing or adding preservatives.

The new expression: "Meat is the new tobacco", affirms the researches and says that this meat can be as dangerous as cigarettes, claiming that it has the same number of chronic diseases as the tobacco. On the other hand, researches show that 21% of bowel cancer are caused by processed or red meat, whereas a much larger number- 86% of lung cancers are caused by smoking cigarettes. The evidence for these studies comes from years of animal, human and cell research. Yet there are scientists that are doubting this evidence, and some U.S. beef producers have suspicions that this information might be false.

Processed meat was placed in Group 1 in the WHO classification, which means that it iscarcinogenic to humans.Dr Kurt Straif, head of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, said that if an individual consumes processed meat, the risk of having bowel cancer is small, however this risk might grow if the amount of the consuming increases.

Overall, this information can't be 100% confirmed, and they are still working on new researches, because the meat also has its own benefits. That is why the WHO stated that a limited amount of meat will do no harm the human body, as long as it is consumed with caution.

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