GREELEY (AP) – Whether it’s a big juicy steak to top off a tough week or bacon and sausage with Sunday morning brunch, a World Health Organization study says you could be eating the ingredients to cause cancer.
The backlash from the recent study that red meat and processed meat can cause cancer was so intense that WHO has started to backpedal on its claims.
Dozens of meat lovers and meat-processing companies, such as JBS and Tyson – the two largest meat processors in the world – put out statements opposing the study.
Steve Gabel, an Eaton man who has been involved in the beef industry for decades and who owns Magnum Feedyard in Wiggins, said he doesn’t put much weight in the study.
“The causes of cancer are extremely complex, and just as consumers need to eat a healthy, balanced diet, they need balanced information,” he said. “I’m not sure that studies like this result in balanced information. It conflicts with dozens of other studies that show there is no correlation between red meat and cancer.”
Gabel served as the president of the Colorado Beef Council for 16 years until June of this year.
“Lots of things are bad for us, and ultimately it’s about taking that information and using it to make smart choices,” he said. “I think (the backlash) states that the consumers in the U.S. know we produce a safe, wholesome and nutritious product, and they want to eat it.”
The original report, put out by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a WHO cancer agency, came out Oct. 26.
It was based on the findings of 22 experts from 10 countries, who reviewed “more than 800 studies that investigated associations of more than a dozen types of cancer with the consumption of red meat or processed meat in many counties and populations with diverse diets.”
They concluded each 50-gram portion of processed meat eaten daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent.
The meat-loving public cried out in opposition.
“I’ve never seen a social-media campaign about food that was so significant in what it did,” said Steve Kay, editor and publisher of Cattlebuyers Weekly. Kay is referring to the hundreds of meat lovers who took to Facebook, Twitter and other social media to shout their disdain for the study that linked red meat and processed meats to colon cancer.
“The World Health Organization must have been mortified by the response to this report,” Kay said. “By Friday, they were offering a follow-up and clarification.”
WHO put out a clarifying statement last week and said it would look into the study’s findings further in the near future.
“The latest IARC review does not ask people to stop eating processed meats but indicates that reducing consumption of these products can reduce the risk of colorectal cancer,” the statement said.
Kay said he expected the backlash.
“Consumers are sick and tired of the reports that say something will kill you,” Kay said. “They know that driving on the freeway is more dangerous than eating red meat.”
The IARC Monographs Program classified the consumption of red meat as Group 2 or “probably carcinogenic to humans,” and processed meat as Group 1 and “carcinogenic to humans.”
“For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but the risk increases with the amount of meat consumed,” Dr. Kurt Straif, head of the IARC Monographs Program, said in the report.
Julie Moore, the director of nutrition and education for the Colorado Beef Council, said it’s all about moderation.
“The best way to prevent cancer is to have a healthy lifestyle, exercise, eat a variety of foods and do everything in moderation,” she said.
