Bacon, Ham, Sausages and Red Meat...

[Keith Maitland]

The press are credulously reporting a World Health Organisation report: "Bacon, ham and sausages rank alongside cigarettes as a major cause of cancer, the World Health Organisation has said.”

They add: “"Its report says each 50g of processed meat a day - the equivalent of one sausage, or less than two slices of bacon - increases the chance of developing bowel cancer by 18 per cent.”

An increase of 18% sounds very bad, almost as if your lifespan will be reduced by 18%

I know that sensible people would not touch a WHO report with a very long stick for fear of catching something, but this is very silly, even by their standards. They have ranked bacon sandwiches in that category not on their risk, but on the strength of the evidence that there is a very high probability of there being some risk, even if if it is very slight. That is, if WHO are certain that the risk is trivial, it goes into the top category of evidence based statements!

"Global health experts listed processed meat as a cancer-causing substance - the highest of five possible rankings, shared with alcohol, asbestos, arsenic and cigarettes.”

This is stupid, stupid, stupid.

It is part of a mendacious habit in which charities and health groups propagandise relative risks without mentioning absolute risks.

RTWT here:

http://drjamesthompson.blogspot.com/2015/10/bacon-sandwich-hysteria.html#comment-form

[Harrowby Hall]

One hundred per cent behind you Keith, but you are a couple of days late.

Sriram has already put his spin on this topic. Needless to say he is spinning in a different direction from you.

[Owlswing]

The press are credulously reporting a World Health Organisation report: "Bacon, ham and sausages rank alongside cigarettes as a major cause of cancer, the World Health Organisation has said.”

They add: “"Its report says each 50g of processed meat a day - the equivalent of one sausage, or less than two slices of bacon - increases the chance of developing bowel cancer by 18 per cent.”

An increase of 18% sounds very bad, almost as if your lifespan will be reduced by 18%

I know that sensible people would not touch a WHO report with a very long stick for fear of catching something, but this is very silly, even by their standards. They have ranked bacon sandwiches in that category not on their risk, but on the strength of the evidence that there is a very high probability of there being some risk, even if if it is very slight. That is, if WHO are certain that the risk is trivial, it goes into the top category of evidence based statements!

"Global health experts listed processed meat as a cancer-causing substance - the highest of five possible rankings, shared with alcohol, asbestos, arsenic and cigarettes.”

This is stupid, stupid, stupid.

It is part of a mendacious habit in which charities and health groups propagandise relative risks without mentioning absolute risks.

RTWT here:

http://drjamesthompson.blogspot.com/2015/10/bacon-sandwich-hysteria.html#comment-form

Totally agree.

[Owlswing]

One hundred per cent behind you Keith, but you are a couple of days late.

Sriram has already put his spin on this topic. Needless to say he is spinning in a different direction from you.

Doesn't he always - from everyone esle!

[Rhiannon]

Agree very much.

Like many women I have regular smear tests. A UK study showed that for every cancer case caught 158 women have unnecessary procedures following 'abnormal' smears. One in twelve women who have smears will get a recall at some point even though only 3,000 cases are detected each year, including women who have had 'normal' test results.

I was discussing this with a friend of mine- as mothers we both feel we have to have smears because of the responsibilities we have, but we could be putting ourselves at risk of having unnecessary medical procedures which themselves carry risks. But doctors and practice nurses make you feel as though you are putting your life at risk if you opt out of testing.

[Owlswing]

Agree very much.

Like many women I have regular smear tests. A UK study showed that for every cancer case caught 158 women have unnecessary procedures following 'abnormal' smears. One in twelve women who have smears will get a recall at some point even though only 3,000 cases are detected each year, including women who have had 'normal' test results.

I was discussing this with a friend of mine- as mothers we both feel we have to have smears because of the responsibilities we have, but we could be putting ourselves at risk of having unnecessary medical procedures which themselves carry risks. But doctors and practice nurses make you feel as though you are putting your life at risk if you opt out of testing.

I get great pleasure out of knowing that every couple of years I get to send very real shit through the post to be tested for bowel/intestinal cancer!

[OH MY WORLD!]

Really, you send it through the mail? What do you pay for postage on your crap? Why not deliver it yourself and leave it on the front steps, in a brown paper bag, lit on fire?

[Udayana]

It's already postage paid iirc. Burnt crap wouldn't be much good.

[floo]

Agree very much.

Like many women I have regular smear tests. A UK study showed that for every cancer case caught 158 women have unnecessary procedures following 'abnormal' smears. One in twelve women who have smears will get a recall at some point even though only 3,000 cases are detected each year, including women who have had 'normal' test results.

I was discussing this with a friend of mine- as mothers we both feel we have to have smears because of the responsibilities we have, but we could be putting ourselves at risk of having unnecessary medical procedures which themselves carry risks. But doctors and practice nurses make you feel as though you are putting your life at risk if you opt out of testing.

I get great pleasure out of knowing that every couple of years I get to send very real shit through the post to be tested for bowel/intestinal cancer!

We receive ours every three years, it seems well worth doing.

[Owlswing]

It's already postage paid iirc. Burnt crap wouldn't be much good.

Udayana

Quite correct - but, being on the wrong side of the pond, he hasn't got a clue what I was talking about but just HAD to have a shot at me!

I post crap to the laboratory - he posts it on here.

[Owlswing]

Agree very much.

Like many women I have regular smear tests. A UK study showed that for every cancer case caught 158 women have unnecessary procedures following 'abnormal' smears. One in twelve women who have smears will get a recall at some point even though only 3,000 cases are detected each year, including women who have had 'normal' test results.

I was discussing this with a friend of mine- as mothers we both feel we have to have smears because of the responsibilities we have, but we could be putting ourselves at risk of having unnecessary medical procedures which themselves carry risks. But doctors and practice nurses make you feel as though you are putting your life at risk if you opt out of testing.

I get great pleasure out of knowing that every couple of years I get to send very real shit through the post to be tested for bowel/intestinal cancer!

We receive ours every three years, it seems well worth doing.

Considering what the possible result of NOT doing so is - I agree.

[OH MY WORLD!]

 Matty, the truth is that you don't send your crap through the mail. That is done for you. Another one of your over the top fibs. And that is why I took a shot at your stupid attempt at being funny. Get real, if you Brits have to actually collect and mail your own poop, then your nation needs help.

[floo]

Agree very much.

Like many women I have regular smear tests. A UK study showed that for every cancer case caught 158 women have unnecessary procedures following 'abnormal' smears. One in twelve women who have smears will get a recall at some point even though only 3,000 cases are detected each year, including women who have had 'normal' test results.

I was discussing this with a friend of mine- as mothers we both feel we have to have smears because of the responsibilities we have, but we could be putting ourselves at risk of having unnecessary medical procedures which themselves carry risks. But doctors and practice nurses make you feel as though you are putting your life at risk if you opt out of testing.

I get great pleasure out of knowing that every couple of years I get to send very real shit through the post to be tested for bowel/intestinal cancer!

We receive ours every three years, it seems well worth doing.

Considering what the possible result of NOT doing so is - I agree.

My husband's test kit came by post the other day. It is so simple to do and then post back in the prepaid envelope.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

Matty, the truth is that you don't send your crap through the mail. That is done for you. Another one of your over the top fibs. And that is why I took a shot at your stupid attempt at being funny. Get real, if you Brits have to actually collect and mail your own poop, then your nation needs help.

Yep It needs help from a nation which junked the right wing.

[Aruntraveller]

Matty, the truth is that you don't send your crap through the mail. That is done for you. Another one of your over the top fibs. And that is why I took a shot at your stupid attempt at being funny. Get real, if you Brits have to actually collect and mail your own poop, then your nation needs help.

Yes we do that because it's more cost effective, and less embarassing than taking a tube of poop into a surgery or going to a surgery to take a dump.

For more details here:

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Cancer-of-the-colon-rectum-or-bowel/Pages/Screeningforbowelcancer.aspx

On a further trawl of t'internet the UK is not alone in adopting this method - as France, Austria and Germany amongst others use it.

In Austria, where 61% of all those studied reported having undertaken a FOBT, deaths from CRC dropped by 39% for men and 47% for women during the period

 


CRC = Colorectal Cancer
FOBT = Faecal Occult* Blood Test

* in this instance (for clarification before some wit starts on about witches, etc) = medicine

(of a disease or process) not accompanied by readily discernible signs or symptoms.

[Owlswing]

Matty, the truth is that you don't send your crap through the mail. That is done for you. Another one of your over the top fibs. And that is why I took a shot at your stupid attempt at being funny. Get real, if you Brits have to actually collect and mail your own poop, then your nation needs help.

Yes we do that because it's more cost effective, and less embarassing than taking a tube of poop into a surgery or going to a surgery to take a dump.

For more details here:

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Cancer-of-the-colon-rectum-or-bowel/Pages/Screeningforbowelcancer.aspx

On a further trawl of t'internet the UK is not alone in adopting this method - as France, Austria and Germany amongst others use it.

In Austria, where 61% of all those studied reported having undertaken a FOBT, deaths from CRC dropped by 39% for men and 47% for women during the period

 


CRC = Colorectal Cancer
FOBT = Faecal Occult* Blood Test

* in this instance (for clarification before some wit starts on about witches, etc) = medicine

(of a disease or process) not accompanied by readily discernible signs or symptoms.

Thanks Trent - saved me from another savaging (I'm so scared) by the ignorant unbelieveing Canadian.

[Udayana]

Seems ironic considering heme iron is one of the components of red meat implicated in causing cancer:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wellbeing/health-advice/meat-health-truth-science-food-nutrition-vegetarian/

Though the most interesting finding is immune response related:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11316316/Red-meat-triggers-toxic-immune-reaction-which-causes-cancer-scientists-find.html

[floo]

What I don't understand is that cancer seems more common these days, yet red meat has always been a staple of the diet, possibly more so than today.

[Owlswing]

What I don't understand is that cancer seems more common these days, yet red meat has always been a staple of the diet, possibly more so than today.

Re red meat - is it not possible that the attack of red-meat is because the higher echelons the nutritionist world has been subtly taken over by the Militant Veggie Mafia?

[Udayana]

Not sure it really is more common - just that people used to die of other things earlier - cancer usually takes longer to kill you, and we are better at detecting it. Also whatever we ate, we eat a lot more of it now.

In any case, we have more exposure to various chemicals and additives we didn't used to. Then there is skin cancer, holes in the ozone layer, increased radiation due to technology, particulates from diesel etc etc.

[Udayana]

What I don't understand is that cancer seems more common these days, yet red meat has always been a staple of the diet, possibly more so than today.

Re red meat - is it not possible that the attack of red-meat is because the higher echelons the nutritionist world has been subtly taken over by the Militant Veggie Mafia?

You mean ..maybe the illuminati have gone veg in a last ditch attempt to save the world?

[Owlswing]

Not sure it really is more common - just that people used to die of other things earlier - cancer usually takes longer to kill you, and we are better at detecting it. Also whatever we do ate, we eat a lot more of it now.

In any case, we have more exposure to various chemicals and additives we didn't used to. Then there is skin cancer, holes in the ozone layer, increased radiation due to technology, particulates from diesel etc etc.

One of the greatest discussions about humanity has yet to be inaugurated - just how long is the world going to be able to continue to support humanity at the rate that, currently, humanity is destroying it?

50 years? 100 years? 1,000 years?

Or, it is I think possble, someone is going to come up with a idea that will result in a catastrophic natural event that will wipe out humanity next year.

We, humanity, are stupid enough for it to happen.

[Owlswing]

What I don't understand is that cancer seems more common these days, yet red meat has always been a staple of the diet, possibly more so than today.

Re red meat - is it not possible that the attack of red-meat is because the higher echelons the nutritionist world has been subtly taken over by the Militant Veggie Mafia?

You mean ..maybe the illuminati have gone veg in a last ditch attempt to save the world?

Them or some other bunch of extremists of one form or another! Extremists and extremisms seem to be breeding faster than flies these days.

[Jack Knave]

I agree. This is just scare tactics to get us to become more veggified.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

Has anybody noticed that when one eats Bacon or sausage it comes out as a poo.....but the reverse is never observed.