Is cooked ham really carcinogenic?- INDEPENDENT

In recent days, news has spread on social networks that cooked ham has been classified by the World Health Organization as a "carcinogenic type 1" food.Actually, this is not news.as early as 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a research agency of the WHO, included all processed meats, from raw ham to salami, from bresaola to sausages such as frankfurters and sausages, in the category of "certain carcinogens" for humans.In practice, we have known for more than 10 years that processed meat is scientifically considered to be a food that increases the risk of certain types of cancer, such as colon or prostate cancer.Scientists call these "processed meats," and they include all types of non-fresh meat, including canned and dry meats.Today, rehashing this news on social media and the masses as if it is a last minute revelation only serves to monetize web traffic and social page rather than actual information.However, let's try to better understand this issue, offer clear information and without unnecessary alarm to all our readers.

Processed meats and some carcinogens

First, consider "processed" or "processed" meat.What are they?These are meats that have undergone manufacturing processes that include the addition of salt and preservatives such as nitrites and nitrates, flavoring processes such as seasoning, smoking, and cooking.Processed meats include raw and cooked ham, Salami, Mortadella, Speck, Bacon, Frankfurter, Sausage, Cracked and cured meats, Sliced ​​turkey and other generally unpleasant meats.

Now let's try to understand the class of substances or agents that WHO defines as "Type 1 Carcinogens", also known as some carcinogens.This is how WHO scientists define substances for which there is sufficiently clear and specific scientific information that exposure to or consumption of these substances increases the likelihood of developing a tumor.To date, we have about 130 specific carcinogens, including alcohol, tobacco smoke, asbestos, arsenic, aflatoxins or UVB sun rays.And actually processed or processed meat.Processed meat is considered carcinogenic due to certain factors:

- because it contains a large amount of heme iron, the type of iron that is most similar to the human body, which is necessary for all biological substances.Vegetable food contains iron that does not have heme, which is not very good and our body uses it.The consumption of heme iron, which can improve stress and inflammation of the intestinal organs, experts suspect is one of the reasons for the development of tumors.

- because it contains a lot of salt and many preservatives such as nitrites and nitrates.In particular, these preservatives are clearly responsible for the formation of carcinogenic compounds in the stomach, such as nitrosamines.

- High consumption of processed meats and sausages due to the association with a diet that is generally not correct and healthy.In fact, scientists rightly believe that even those who eat a lot of sausages, dogs and sausages follow a very unbalanced diet, which in general increases the chance of developing cancer and other pathologies associated with poor nutrition and unhealthy lifestyle.

At this point many people suddenly think something like "so if I eat ham I will get cancer."edit.Smoking and eating a ham sandwich are two very different things from seeing danger.

What is the real danger?

It is better to study this topic in depth and consciously understand how to understand and apply the principle of "carcinogenic" ham, because otherwise you will change everything in the wrong way and risk adopting extremist and completely inappropriate behaviors, for example, fearing eating meat or completely removing it from your diet, which would be a health-based decision.Another thing, of course, is if you decide to give up meat for other ethical or environmental reasons.

Let's start from an authoritative opinion on the matter, such as the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC, not to be confused with the IARC mentioned above), which, after the position taken by the WHO in 2015, explained very well in this official statement that preserved meat (baked meat and sausages) can increase the risk of certain types of tumors used frequently.Moreover, the AIRC document also explains that the risk of a tumor depends on the basic risk that a person has to develop a tumor, later based on the general lifestyle of the person and on their genetic predisposition to certain types of cancer (family history).

Therefore, it is better to be very careful not to fall for false alarms about eating meat.When processed meat (sausage, ham, etc.) is classified in group 1 of carcinogenic substances, it does not mean that if we eat these foods we will get cancer.It means that it can increase by 18% significantly, as the IARC itself says, the relative risk of developing certain tumors.So it is good to remember that WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer published the data indicating an increase in the relative risk of developing cancer, not an increase in the absolute risk.The difference between the two types of risk is important and I will describe it clearly.

Absolute risk is the percentage of getting a certain tumor, which depends on our genetics, our lifestyle, and the toxins we are exposed to.Therefore this risk is different for each person.In short, there is no absolute risk that is valid for everyone, but everyone has their own risk.Relative risk, on the other hand, is the probability of a certain event occurring in a certain group of people compared to another group with different characteristics, physical conditions and environment. Our Italian Cancer Research Agency explains this difference as follows: “People who have no history of colon cancer and cancer in general, who have healthy lifestyle habits (do not smoke, exercise) but eat meat regularly, have an 18% increased risk of developing the disease. However, the risk of both groups is veryLow, because the overall absolute risk and relative risk are low.This means that, in absolute and relative terms, the risk of developing colon cancer does not change significantly.In contrast, for people with inflammatory bowel disease or a high family history of colon cancer (two conditions that increase the risk), their absolute risk increased by 18%, relatively high.

In other words, if a person has a low baseline risk, say 0.6% of getting cancer, then eating 50 grams of smoked meat every day (that's the amount that the International Cancer Society talks about when talking about high consumption of cooked meat) increases that risk by 18%, which means that the risk of getting cancer goes from 0.6%.Actually, 18% should be calculated as 18% of 0.6% and this is the final result achieved.As you can see, if the basic and regular risk (absolute risk) is low due to health and well-being, even if you eat sausages every day (and it does not mean that in a healthy diet you should not eat sausages every day), the risk will still remain low.On the contrary, if a person's basic risk is high due to his unhealthy lifestyle (smoking cigarettes, long life style, unhealthy food, life in highly polluted areas and cities, etc.), it is equal to 20%, eating 50g of smoked meat increases this risk by 18%, and the real and total risk is 24%.As can be seen, the increase in risk is much greater in people who already have a high baseline risk (total risk).

In conclusion, it should be clear, even if a substance or food is known to be carcinogenic, when assessing the risk of tumor development, one cannot ignore the main basic risks (genetic and lifestyle) and assess the dose taken from this substance or food.Brioche, full of hydrogenic fat, preservatives and sugar?And so on.In the end, the amount of everything is a significant percentage that can cause tumor pathology.But the ham is not the fault now.The important thing is to know these things and the mechanisms that nutrition and health work through, then everyone makes a conscious decision.

Sorry, but this article is misleading for several reasons.

It is true that the probability of developing cancer varies significantly with certain substances, but unlike toxic substances, where Paracelsus applies the rule [poison dose], this little player does not apply in the presence of a carcinogen.Substances that are capable of indirectly altering DNA always pose a dose-independent risk.Cigarette smoke may be harmless to many, but most of its components are carcinogenic.it means that probably subjective factors related to the immune system are more or less effective in the initiation of cancer.

Heme iron is not absolutely necessary and is certainly carcinogenic.It is quickly formed, but its negative effects often undermine this high availability.

Vegetables contain a significant amount of iron, which may be less absorbable because it is composed of substances that happen to be protective factors against the effects of free radicals.The assimilation of iron in vegetables is greatly increased, without the side effects of heme iron, only in the presence of vitamin C: found in all fresh vegetables!

In addition to the fact that, from [anatomical, physiological, and psychological] point of view, humans are nothing more than carnivores.How can we think that food foreign to our biological evolution can be harmless?

It is no coincidence that [all] meats are classified as definitely or probably carcinogenic to humans.

Without meat is fine, without vegetables is impossible!These data should make us think about how we are made.

So these legal defenses seem more like Assocarni's marketing ideas than a rational analysis of the data we have.

Without touching on two major related issues: environment and more importantly the moral debate.

Interesting, and then confirms my intuition.

I follow my taste and don't care about foods and food theories

I'm sorry, I mistakenly posted my answer as a reply to another message when it was intended to be a comment in the article.

…no because giving up a bread and a salami every now and then takes a lot for the mind… ahahahahhahaha

interesting as always.Thank you

Thanks William!