Dr. Kurt Straif is with the IARC. He said in a statement that the risk of cancer increases with the amount of meat a person eats. A person who consumes 50 grams of processed meat per day – about two pieces of bacon – increases his or her risk of bowel cancer by 18 percent.
Health experts in some countries already advise against eating large amounts of red and processed meat. But those advisories had been centered on the increased risks of heart disease and obesity.
Meat industry groups are protesting the WHO study. They say that meat is part of a balanced diet. They also say the causes of cancer are broad, and include environmental and lifestyle factors.
The WHO report cited the Global Burden of Disease project, which estimates that diets high in processed meat lead to 34,000 cancer deaths per year worldwide.
I'm Ashley Thompson.