For the Love of Bacon

You may have heard all the fuss lately over red meat and bacon and it’s link to cancer. Well news flash! This is not news. It seems that every year they come out demonizing red meat and my beloved bacon (read the report here). As a dietitian (and one known for saying bacon is not the worst) I want to break this down for you so you can better understand what this sensational article is all about. First, don’t trust everything you read on the internet, and second, red meat can be very nutritious, it all depends how you consume it.

Yes, “it depends.”

I received messages and questions galore last week when the news article was released. Everyone wanted to know “what’s your opinion” and I love that! I want you to come to me when there is a nutrition topic you are concerned about, that’s why I created this blog after all and one of the reasons I became a dietitian. It can be very confusing and it is easy to get sucked into the sensationalism of articles on the internet, especially when they go viral. It is important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture, check your sources and remain calm.  Everything can be bad on some level, it depends on the quality, quantity and the environment in which it is presented, and that could literally go for anything: water, food, exercise, play, you name it!

After reading the article about the scientists who OBSERVED many cohort studies (called a meta-analysis), I am not convinced and not concerned. Sure, if you eat processed meat regularly, you probably are not the picture of health (Oscar Mayer hot dogs are NOT healthy, but you knew that) but that does not mean eating red meat will cause harm, it just depends.

Let’s take a closer look as to why I am not concerned, shall we?

1. Quality, quality, quality! Okay, so I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it. The quality of your food is important. Many people want to count calories but, if you are eating nutrient poor food what’s the point? This study never focuses on the quality of the meat consumed. I would love to know if those who had an increased risk (which was minimal by the way) of getting cancer were consuming CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) meat in the form of fast food burgers and store bought hot dogs, or if they were eating a medium-rare grass-fed steak from a local farmer and home cured bacon from the farmers market.
2. Lifestyle factors and the “healthy user bias”: When studies like this are done there is minimal discussion on the lifestyle factors and other diet features of the participants. The healthy user bias could mean that those participants who participate or who are or are not eating the processed meats in this case have certain lifestyle factors not accounted for. For example, someone who stays away from CAFO raised, processed and/or cured meats may also partake in exercise regularly, may have an increased intake of vegetables and may sleep 8 hours per night. This is, of course, hard to control but a healthy lifestyle also goes hand in hand with a healthy diet, so could this be the problem?
3. Processed foods are not healthy. I could end it there BUT we have discussed this before. A SAD (Standard American Diet) diet filled with refined carbs, processed meats and minimal fruits and vegetables is not a nutrient-rich and healthy diet. While the term “processed” foods may be vague, I think we can all agree that highly processed foods like most store bought bacon, lunch meat and even red meat is not part of a healthy diet. Instead, we could focus on quality (see #1) and enjoy bacon and red meat from well-raised animals and consume them in combination with fruits and vegetables, as well as focus on other lifestyle factors (see #2).
4. The type of study matters. When you read a sensational article online, it can be confusing when they use research jargon. Not to dismiss observational studies as they are important to start finding trends between medical conditions and health outcomes, but they are not the gold standard. Observational studies, like those analyzed in this meta-analysis (a big fancy word for group of studies) are unable to separate the differences between study participants. You would need a randomized control (preferably double-blind) trial to be  considered a gold standard. This is a much harder study to perform and besides you cannot force people to eat foods that are suspected of causing cancer. The type of study makes a big difference.
5. Too many unknowns. There are so many unknowns in this case. What about the gut health of the individuals involved? What about the environments they live in?nDo they live in the city or the country? Could they be low in other nutrients, like perhaps Vitamin D because they live in a certain area of the world? So many unknowns and too many to just demonize one food group. I can agree that processed meats like lunch meat, poor quality bacon and even CAFO meat are not promoting health, I cannot  stand behind these claims that all red meat is bad.

I am not concerned if you are eating red meat and cured meats in the appropriate way. What does that mean? It means you are focusing on the quality of your meat and the variety of your diet by including fruits, veggies, etc. It means you are drinking water, not soda and exercising instead of remaining sedentary day in and day out. It means you are sleeping enough and taking care of your gut health. It means you are just eating real food and living a real food lifestyle.

Read your ingredient labels, know where you food is coming from and eat a well balanced diet filled with good quality proteins, fats and carbohydrates. That’s it.

Takeaway…

Red meat can be healthy. In fact, meat can be very high in your fat soluble vitamins and healthy fats by which you absorb those vitamins. Meat is also a great source of your B-vitamins which are necessary for too many processes in your body to start listing in this article. So, if you are able to get good quality meat, eat up!

At the end of the day, eat good quality REAL FOOD in amounts that support YOUR health. So if you find a good source of bacon, cured from a healthy pig, and you feel great eating it, enjoy away just not every day.

Now go enjoy some of my favorite bacon recipes here, here and here if you feel so inclined 🙂

xoxo,

Sassy