Processed meat is meat that has been preserved by curing, salting, smoking, drying or canning. Food products categorized as processed meat include:
- Sausages, hot dogs, salami.
- Ham, cured bacon.
- Salted and cured meat, corned beef.
- Smoked meat.
- Dried meat, beef jerky.
- Canned meat.
On the other hand, meat that has been frozen or undergone mechanical processing like cutting and slicing is still considered unprocessed.
Has consistently been linked with harmful effects on health.
This is a fact that health-conscious people have been aware of for decades.
For this reason, eating high amounts is more common among people with unhealthy lifestyle habits.
As an example, smoking is more common among those who eat lots. Their intake of fruit and vegetables is also much lower.
It is possible that the links found between processed meat. And disease are partly because people who eat tend to do other things that are not associated with good health.
Most observational studies on and health outcomes try to correct for these factors.
Nevertheless, studies consistently find strong links between processed meat consumption and various chronic diseases.
Eating processed meat is associated with increased risk of many chronic diseases.
These include:
- High blood pressure (hypertension).
- Heart disease .
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
- Bowel and stomach cancer.
Studies on processed meat consumption in humans are all observational in nature.
They show that people who eat are more likely to get these diseases, but they can not prove that the caused them.
Even so, the evidence is convincing because the links are strong and consistent.
Additionally, all of this is supported by studies in animals. For example, studies in rats show that eating raises the risk of bowel cancer