Processed, red meat increases cancer risk, new study suggests

It’s popular on breakfast plates, but a new study may make you rethink eating sausage or bacon.

The research was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, and suggests those much loved processed breakfast meats are linked to higher rates of colorectal cancer for people who eat them often.

Chances of getting the disease are nearly 20% higher, for every processed meat the size of a slice of bacon eaten per day.

Red meat appears linked to the risk as well. Researchers say people who ate 76 grams of red or processed meat per day – which is roughly the same as a burger with a quarter pound of beef – had a 20% higher chance of developing colon cancer, compared to those who ate about a third that much per day.

The study tracked the diets of nearly half a million British adults between the ages of 40 and 69 during a roughly five year period. More than 2,600 of the study’s participants developed colorectal cancer.

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