Processed meat and its relationship with cancer: Literature review

Abstract

Large number of observational scientific studies and numerous research papers, has suggested that high consumption of red meat and processed meat products has an adverse effect on human health. These findings have led advocacy groups around the world to recommend that the general population should reduce use of processed meats and meat products, with the overall goal of reducing the risk of disease, especially cancer. Even World Health Organization (WHO)’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) stated that consuming processed meat is found to be “carcinogenic to humans (Group I),” and that consuming Red meat is “probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A).” So the present article reviews the research and data available regarding relationship between processed meat and cancer.