Here Piggie....

I'm going to be honest. For someone that likes to eat fairly healthily...I really like lunch meat and salami. My dad's family is 100% German and they've always had a "healthy" obsession with cheese, Summer Sausage, and crackers.

Recently, the Interweb told me that this wasn't healthy at all, which isn't surprising but is still sad.

After I sobbed all over my plate of gluten-free crackers and salami, I decided to do some reading.

http://www.thefutureofhealthnow.com/new-study-links-processed-meat-and-cancer-risk/

Huff Post says: "The study, published in the journal BMC Medicine and conducted by researchers from the University of Zurich, shows an association between processed meat and higher risks of dying from heart disease and cancer...even after taking into account other factors, processed meat consumption was still shown to raise risk of dying from heart disease and cancer. Meanwhile, researchers did not find an association between poultry consumption and increased risk of premature death."

Eating processed meat also increases your risk of cancer and Type 2 diabetes: "...another study from Harvard researchers showed that regularly eating processed meat could actually affect your body's ability to use and produce insulin -- thereby raising risk of Type 2 diabetes."

As far as other variables factor in, The Star (Oh, Can-a-da!) mentions that "...eating a lot of processed meat and red meat were clear markers for a generally unhealthy lifestyle that included the consumption of fewer fruits and vegetables, more cigarettes and alcohol and less exercise."

Another cool point discovered: "Eating fruits and vegetables appeared to reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease for people who ate a lot of processed meat, however. 'Fruit and vegetables might counteract, for example, some of the effects of some carcinogens as they are antioxidants or may act in other parts of the mechanism of carcinogens,' Rohrmann explained."

Here's what I'm wondering. Often times we get uncured Applegate Farms or Hormel Natural lunch meat, which doesn't have any chemical preservatives that I've found in other brands. I wonder if people who eat "less processed" (but still processed a little?) meat are still at such a high risk.

The Star answers this question too: "Deli meats are 400 times higher in sodium, which is used as a preservative and for taste, than in non-cured meats...In the short term, a high sodium diet raises blood pressure. In the long term is contributes to heart and blood vessel stiffness and kidney damage and increases our risk of heart disease and stroke...High sodium diets are linked to stomach cancer."

Further, "Labels on processed deli meat products may be misleading. A product may be labelled “natural” or “nitrate free” when it contains “cultured celery extract,” a form of sodium nitrate...processed varieties may contain additives, dyes and chemicals and may be composed of meat scraps, rather than higher quality cuts."

This pisses me off. I can guarantee that the lunch meat I have been buying is plastered with lovely, empty promises about being nitrate-free.

Grr.