Processed meat raises risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

(NaturalNews) A new study published in the journal Circulation reveals that eating processed meat products significantly raises the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Previous research has linked processed meats to cancer as well.

The new paper involved a meta-analysis of 20 different studies covering more than one million people from 10 different countries. The study found that eating just 2 ounces of processed meat each day resulted in the following:

• A 42 percent increase in the risk of heart disease.

• A 19 percent increase in the risk of diabetes.

Interestingly, the analysis simultaneously found that eating non-processed meats was not linked to these increases in disease risk. The study authors concluded that it was the processed salt and chemical additives in the processed meat that caused increase risk of disease.

Why sodium nitrite is poison

What the study authors did not come right out and say is that sodium nitrite is a poison, yet it's added to virtually all processed meats as a "color fixer." It makes dead gray meat look fleshy red, in other words, and it's added to bacon, sausage, hot dogs, pepperoni and most other processed meats. It's listed right on the label under the "ingredients" section.

I've been warning readers about sodium nitrite for seven years, and in that time, evidence has shown the chemical to cause:

• A 67% increase in pancreatic cancer (http://www.naturalnews.com/007024_G...)

• A 74% higher risk of leukemia (http://www.naturalnews.com/News_000...)

• A 40% higher risk of diabetes (http://www.naturalnews.com/027636_p...)

The USDA actually tried to ban sodium nitrite from the food supply back in the 1970's, but it was overruled by the meat industry which knew that the chemical made meat look visually more appealing and therefore increased sales of processed meat products. Despite causing cancer, sodium nitrite has remained legal in the food supply to this day.

See the Counterthink Cartoon: "Hickory Harms" at http://www.naturalnews.com/022286.html

How many children are dying from processed meat?

Mainstream children eat a huge quantity of processed meat products, including hot dogs, sandwich meat, bacon, sausage and beef jerky. All those products are made with sodium nitrite.

How many children are dying of cancer each year from this toxic chemical in the food supply? The USDA doesn't want to know and the FDA doesn't seem to care. Sodium nitrite sells more meat, and food regulators apparently have no interest in the actual safety of the food supply. As long as food products are dead, the FDA considers them "safe" even if they're contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals like sodium nitrite.

I find it deplorable that the FDA is trying to outlaw raw milk but is fine to let American children continue dying from eating cancer-causing processed meats laced with sodium nitrite. It sort of tells you where the real priorities are in Washington, doesn't it?

Ignorant consumers eat processed meat

While people are dying of cancer, heart disease and diabetes from the chemical additives intentionally put into processed meat products, those consumers who are aware of the truth about sodium nitrite are avoiding all processed meats made with sodium nitrite (look for it on the label).

Only those consumers who are ignorant of the true health risks are still buying (and eating) bacon, sausage, beef jerky and other processed meat products. Basically, we're talking about the processed food crowd, which includes low-income families, teenagers, low-IQ individuals who are unable to grasp basic health concepts and mainstream physicians who have yet to accept any link between foods and health.

Sources for this story include:
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8...

ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/WorldNews/...