Why must science ruin everything? Just as we are getting used to the idea that red wine is not actually going to keep us young and healthy forever, a report shows up suggesting that "processed meat consumption is positively associated with pancreatic cancer risk." Sigh.
The study heralding this disheartening (for carnivores) news is actually a meta-analysis in the British Journal of Cancer which looked at 11 other studies of 6,643 pancreatic cancer cases. From those researchers were able to ascertain that there was a 29 percent increase in pancreatic cancer risk for men who eat a quarter pound of red meat a day (they found no similar increase in chances in women at that rate, but suggest "this may be because men in the study tended to eat more red meat than women.") Further, your chances go up if you eat even less than that. A mere tenth of a pound of processed meat a day will apparently increase your chances of the cancer by 19 percent.
This latest study adds to the research into pancreatic cancer, one of the deadlier cancers out there (it is hard to detect until it is too late and kills 95 percent of its victims within five years of diagnosis). Of course if you really want to avoid getting pancreatic cancer your best bets are to not be related to someone who had it and to not smoke but that's neither here nor there. Worry warts? Sounds like skipping that morning bacon doughnut now and then wouldn't hurt.
