Bacon and ham sold in the UK should carry cigarette-style labels warning that chemicals in them cause bowel cancer, scientists say.
Their demand comes as they criticise successive British governments for doing “virtually nothing” to reduce the risk from nitrites in the decade since they were found to definitely cause cancer.
Saturday marks a decade since the World Health Organization in October 2015 declared processed meat declared processed meat to be carcinogenic to humans, putting it in the same category as tobacco and asbestos.
Not really. Veggies do contain nitrates, but that’s not the same as the nitrites used in processed meat. In vegetables, nitrates come with antioxidants like vitamin C and polyphenols that prevent the formation of nitrosamines (the actual carcinogenic compounds). In bacon or cured meat, the combination of nitrites, proteins, and heat can create nitrosamines. Veggie nitrates are generally linked to better cardiovascular health, not cancer.