Matthew Martin: Bit rash to condemn rashers

All this talk of bacon is enough to drive one to a bacon sandwich.

It was only yesterday I woke up to some of the worst news I have heard in some time.

My favourite meaty snack - the wonder food known as bacon - is not so wonderful and has been definitely linked to higher rates of cancer.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified bacon, and other processed meats like ham, salami and sausages, as "Group 1" carcinogens that have now been proven to cause cancer.

The WHO also listed red meats - beef, lamb and pork - as "Group 2a" carcinogens that "probably cause cancer".

This did not come as much of a surprise as there has been plenty of research done regarding the carcinogenic properties of these meats.

The study that the WHO based its report on was carried out by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) that collected more than 800 separate studies to find out how likely certain things were to cause cancer.

The IARC is now very confident that these meats cause cancer, but does not say how much of a risk you face if you eat too much of them.

The WHO report says more than 50g of processed meat a day, about one sausage or two slices of bacon, increases the chance of developing bowel cancer by 18 per cent.

It's important to understand what the report actually means.

As you can imagine, headlines around the world can be a little bit over the top, let's say sensational, in their description of the report. Give the media a bone, so to speak, and they'll run with it.

Many of the headlines I have seen say something along the lines of "bacon causes cancer" - which is not what the report states.

Bacon has been proven to cause cancer but does not cause cancer in everyone who eats too much of it. It means you have a higher risk of getting cancer if you do.

To put this in perspective - sunlight, which is also listed as a group one carcinogen - does cause cancer, but not in everyone who over indulges by burning themselves to a crisp trying to get a tan.

It means if you sunbathe constantly during summer your chances of getting cancer is significantly higher than people who don't.

So, both bacon and sunlight increase the risk of people getting cancer, but does not mean you will 100 per cent, definitely, get cancer from them.

In short, these products do not cause cancer on their own, but they have been linked to higher rates of cancer in people who eat more meat than others or who sunbathe often. To reiterate, this does not mean they are the root cause of the cancer.

While the report acknowledges this, WHO are not telling us to stay out of the sun, just to regulate when, and how long, you spend in the sun.

And the same goes for bacon.

So most of those headlines are incorrect, as often happens when technical scientific information is released to the public.

One of the best media reports on this topic was produced by the UK's Daily Telegraph which can also be found on the New Zealand Herald website.

The Herald's headline - "Processed meats rank alongside smoking as major cause of cancer," is bang on.

But sadly, all this talk of bacon just makes me want to eat a massive bacon sandwich.