Bacon, or death?

My new blog post on the research published today linking processed meat with premature death.

Bacon or death?

I love Bacon, Salami, pastrami, sausage, ham, black pudding, you name it, if it's largely composed of bits of animal and too many nitrates, I'm there.

It's worth it. The additional risk of death is I imagine substantially less than that of riding a motorbike, probably less than riding a horse as well, so I'll just not ride a motorbike or a horse and tuck into some good tasty food instead.

I thought I was being thick but saw a dietician yesterday say that they don't really know for sure what the real cause is. 

And as the bacon question, bacon is processed with salt (plus other possible processes) She intimated that there is a difference between bacon that was bought 'loose' from the butchers - and bacon that comes pre-packed. Unfortunately, they barely discussed that interesting point. I think the words she used were "loose bacon is a different story", without expanding.

Is it the plastic packaging? Is it that the bacon in packaging (which does have a very long sell-by date) tends to be 'cheaper' and more processed? More water added etc.

sarah the bookworm wrote (see)

My new blog post on the research published today linking processed meat with premature death.

Bacon or death?

I'm confused by the title.  Isn't the choice actually between  "no bacon or death"?  

Life is too short not to eat bacon butties.

I love sausage and I'm not about to give it up in a hurry 

PSC wrote (see)

Am I being thick? How is bacon "processed". Isn't it just thinly sliced dead pig?

Bacon is first slated or Brined with added sugar, then cured to preserve, it is then injected with as much water (and preservative) as the cured meat can take to increase weight. Watch the white slime that comes from processed bacon as it cooks

EKGO wrote (see)

PSC wrote (see)

Am I being thick? How is bacon "processed". Isn't it just thinly sliced dead pig?

 

Bacon is first slated or Brined with added sugar, then cured to preserve, it is then injected with as much water (and preservative) as the cured meat can take to increase weight. Watch the white slime that comes from processed bacon as it cooks

that's assuming of course that you buy cheap supermarket bacon - "natural" bacon (as in only salted) stays firm when cooked and doesn't leach water

Muttley wrote (see)

Life is too short not to eat bacon butties.

Absolutely correct.

I can't believe that an occasional bacon sarnie is going to shorten my life.

Screamapillar wrote (see)

I love sausage and I'm not about to give it up in a hurry 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, but we're talking about food here.  

Everything in moderation. Too much of most things is bad news. Enjoy.

Wilkie wrote (see)

Muttley wrote (see)

Life is too short not to eat bacon butties.

Absolutely correct.

I can't believe that an occasional bacon sarnie is going to shorten my life.

 

Funny...  but this is the sort of reaction people had when the first studies showed that smoking was linked to cancer and death.  At that time, I guess a lot of people had no idea that smoking was really bad...  and a lot more knew that smoking was probably not ideal... but no big deal.

Just like now.  People sort of know that sausages and pies are not ideal...  but hey, what harm can they really do?

The things that sets this apart from most stories like this is that the consequences are massive - and that the stats are based on a massive sample of nearly HALF A MILLION people.

This could prove to be a seminal study.

Well if you're going to make that comparison then an occasional cigarette wouldn't make that much difference to your health either.

At the end of the day it all depends on the amount you consume.

As Martenkay says - everything in moderation.

If I ate a bacon sandwich every day, I would agree that it could be harmful. 

I eat one maybe twice a month, so if bacon is harmful, two or three rashers once a fortnight isn't likely to be doing me much harm.  

I rarely eat any other kind of processed meat.

If you smoked one cigarette a fortnight, I doubt if you'd come to much harm.

I tend to buy a packet of bacon about once every three or four months and then snarf the lot over two or three days. 

I'm a binge baconer!  

"This could prove to be a seminal study."

you're probably not far wrong but the biggest problem with population studies is translating that info into what it actually means at an individual level as we are all genetically different and have different lifetyles

so, one person could happily scoff a fry up and smoke a packet of fags every day yet live beyond 100

or vegans who have never smoked dying of lung cancer in their 50's

take the info on board, decide what you want to do with it, and then live your life as best you can

bacon butty anyone??