Skip to content 
Why Eating More Processed Meat Increases Your Risk for Serious Health Problems
Processed Meat and Your Health: What the Evidence Really Says
Processed meat is convenient, flavorful, and shelf-stable. But decades of public health research show that eating it frequently comes with real risks: colorectal cancer, heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
This isn’t about fear or perfection. It’s about understanding the evidence so you can make informed choices—reducing your risk without obsessing over every meal.
What Counts as “Processed Meat”?
Processed meat is any meat preserved by smoking, curing, salting, or adding chemical preservatives. That includes:
Bacon, ham, hot dogs
Sausages, salami, pepperoni
Deli meats (turkey, chicken, roast beef slices)
Corned beef, pastrami, and meat jerky
These foods are different from fresh meat because they contain added sodium, nitrates/nitrites, and other stabilizers. The health concern isn’t about an occasional serving—it’s about repeated exposure over months and years.
The Cancer Link: A Formal Classification
The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified processed meat as Group 1 carcinogenic to humans. This places it in the same evidence-confidence category as tobacco and asbestos—but that does not mean the risk level is the same.
“This classification is based on sufficient evidence from epidemiological studies that eating processed meat causes colorectal cancer.” – WHO
The key takeaway: the evidence is strong, not the size of the risk. Smoking is far more dangerous. But for an everyday food, the link to colorectal cancer is solid enough that reducing intake is a prudent choice.
How It May Cause Harm: Nitrates, Nitrites, and NOCs
Many processed meats are cured with nitrates or nitrites. In the body, these can form N-nitroso compounds (NOCs)—chemicals that are carcinogenic in animal studies and linked to human cancer.