A hot dog a day can cause cancer, scientists say

By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff

Grade Level 5Word Count 730

PARIS, France — Bacon, hot dogs and bologna taste good to most of us. Unfortunately, it turns out they can be very bad for your health. The World Health Organization (WHO) said such meats can cause cancer.

The WHO is part of the United Nations. It is a group whose members are countries that work to solve the world's problems.

Cancer is a terrible disease that kills millions of people every year. It causes cells in the body to grow uncontrollably. Lumps form inside the body and spread, and can lead to death.

Bacon, Bologna And Colon Cancer

The WHO scientists looked at two kinds of meat: processed meat and red meat. Processed meat is meat that has been flavored or preserved, often by adding chemicals. Bacon, hot dogs and bologna are all processed meats, along with sausages, beef jerky and anything smoked. Red meat includes beef, veal, pork, lamb and goat.

The WHO said processed meat is definitely linked to cancer. In particular, it can lead to cancer of the colon. The colon is also known as the large intestine. The colon helps the body digest or break down food and prepare waste for elimination.

The WHO said red meat probably can cause cancer as well. So far, there is not enough proof to be completely sure, however.

Happy Doctors, Angry Meat Producers

The new WHO report is the most complete study yet on the link between meat and cancer. Doctors have long suspected there was such a link.

The report was prepared by the WHO's cancer agency. The agency looked at more than 800 earlier studies on possible links between meat and cancer.

Cancer experts welcomed the new report.

Meat producers are angry. The North American Meat Institute represents U.S. meat producers. It has begun to fight back against the new WHO report.

The meat institute said cancer is a complicated disease, with many causes. It said cancer is "not caused by single foods."

Hot Dogs, Smoking And Danger

For the first time, the WHO has put processed meats in the same danger group as smoking. Its findings do not mean that hot dogs and salami are as bad as cigarettes. It only means that there is a proven link to cancer.

Eating one hot dog a day is enough to increase your chances of getting cancer. Eating several slices of bologna a day is also enough to raise your risk of getting cancer. The more processed meat a person eats, the higher the risk of getting the disease.

Still, eating processed meats is much less dangerous than smoking cigarettes. Smoking three cigarettes a day is far worse for you than eating three slices of bologna a day. It is around 27 times more likely to give you cancer.

Even so, the risks of eating certain kinds of meat are real. Experts have long warned of the dangers of chemicals used to preserve, flavor or color meat.

Cancer Risk And Healthier Choices

The risk of getting colon cancer from eating processed meat is small, said Dr. Kurt Straif of the WHO. However, the risk increases, the more of it you eat.

Every year around 34,000 people die of cancers linked to eating processed meat. Usually these are people who ate a lot of processed meat.

Doctors have long advised against eating lots of red or processed meat. They have done this not just because of the cancer danger. The high levels of fat and salt in these types of meat can also lead to heart disease.

Cancer expert Susan Gapstur said the WHO report is "an important step" in helping people make healthier food choices. She suggests choosing fish or chicken instead of red meat or processed meat.

Food scientist Gunter Kuhnle accepts the WHO's findings. However, he thinks people should not become overly worried. Processed meats are nowhere nearly as likely to cause cancer as cigarettes are, he said. Eating a little bit is probably not dangerous.

Kuhnle said the new findings are very important. However, they should not be used to alarm or frighten people, he said.