Cold Meats and Premature Death

Did you know that frequently eating cold meats or processed, like hot dogs, lunch meat, sausages, bacon, and otherrs, could increase your risk of suffering from premature death?  This was the result of a serious study published in the scientific magazine “BMC Medicine”.

The experts that lead this study found a direct link between these products and cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and other serious illnesses, which consequently lead to early death.

More than a million…

The test was performed on more than one million individuals from 10 European countries.  Salt and chemical substances used to prepare meats were determined as harmful to health, raising the mortality rate by coronary disease to 72%.

Serious percentages

According to the study, people that ingested more than 160 grams of processed meat a day, whether that be sausages and a slice of bacon, were 44% more likely to die within a 13 year average period, than individuals that consumed only 20 grams a day.

That’s why it was effectively concluded that ingesting these types of meat raised the risk of death by coronary disease by 72%, and 11% more risk of dying from cancer.

It can be avoided

Professor Sabine Rohrmann of Zurich University (Switzerland), was responsible for the study, and confirmed that “3% of annual premature deaths could have been avoided if the individual had eaten less than 20 grams of processed meat a day.”

Based on this, even the British government has taken action in the subject, officially recommending that the population not eat more than 70 grams of processed meat a day, which is equal to approximately two strips of bacon.

Other illnesses caused by Cold Meats

Remember, eating excessive amounts of processed meat could also cause stomach or colon cancer, diabetes, lung diseases, or even heart attacks.  It’s your decision, your health depends on what you eat.

Which meats are they?

When talking about processed meats, we are specifically referring to meats coming from lamb, veal, bull, pork, and their derivatives like sausages, which are often times obtained from a process whereby fats, grain flours, legumes, salt, flavorings, coloring, and more, are added to them.

The most commonly sold packaged meats are: sausages, ham, deli meat, bacon, etc.  Fast food also affects health due to its enormous amount of saturated fats, causing elevated cholesterol and blood pressure levels, and the sugar could cause diabetes.

Alternatives

Whenever you go to the supermarket or the store to buy your weekly groceries, read the food labels to prevent consuming artificial ingredients, like benzoates, sorbates, aspartame, acesulfame and artificial coloring.

We’re not trying to say that you should never eat them; it’s always nice to have a small taste, but do so with caution.

Balanced diet

Follow a balanced diet by eating green vegetables like avocado, lettuce, broccoli, and fruits  like papaya, watermelon; these should be your first priority.  If you want to eat meat, one alternative could be to eat fish, or even lean, fat-free meats.

Revised by: Dra. Loredana Lunadei on 08/30/2018

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