Cutting even a portion of processed meats can improve health

Health in a Heartbeat

You might be 10 slices of bacon away from a longer, healthier life. Yes, you heard that correctly.

Bacon has a rap sheet. It’s high in sodium and fat. While some sing its praises, many doctors are not in the choir. The World Health Organization calls the food a carcinogen.

University of Edinburgh scientists recently found that if Americans collectively cut back just 30% of their consumption of processed meats like sausage and bacon, it would have a profound impact on public health.

Yes, that percentage is the equivalent of 10 slices of bacon a week.

What would that do from a national perspective? Researchers estimate this reduction would lead to 353,000 fewer cases of Type 2 diabetes over a decade. Cardiovascular disease diagnoses would drop by more than 92,000, colorectal cancer by more than 50,000 cases. Thousands of deaths would be avoided.

The impact is even greater for those cutting unprocessed red meats.

The researchers used computer modeling to make these projections, aided by data from national health surveys.

Of course, bacon isn’t the only game in town when it comes to processed meats. Hot dogs, deli meats, chicken nuggets, and other foods could be flagged, too.

The study notes that restricting meat intake is not just good for your body. It’s good for the planet. A collective effort to reduce consumption will lessen the meat industry’s impact on climate change.

We can all squeeze out a health benefit by reducing our bad habits, even if we are unable to quit something entirely. In other words: It’s not great if you eat half the birthday cake at a sitting. But it’s still better than eating it all.