The case for avoiding processed meats -- including smoked ham, bacon, hot dogs, salami and sausage -- is building, based on a review of 15 studies on the development of stomach cancer, the fourth most common cancer type.
You should be very concerned, especially if you love high-fat, fried breakfast foods like bacon, the worst offender of them all. Based on the health records of some 4,700 patients collected over the past four decades, adding 1 ounce of processed meat to your daily diet elevates your stomach cancer risks by as much as 38 percent.
Among the likely contributors: Nitrates along with excess salt and smoking that extend the shelf-life of such products. But, if you think test-tube hamburgers are a viable option, forget it.
Safer, healthier options are available, thanks, in part, to the growing number of ranchers raising bison in more natural conditions. If you're finding it hard to track down a healthy source for bison meat in your area, you may want to consider the variety of Blackwing meats I carry in my Web store.
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 98, No. 15, August 2, 2006: 1078-1087
ABC News August 2, 2006
CBS News August 1, 2006