Processed meats can cause cancer: WHO

Processed meats - such as bacon, sausages and ham cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to the WHO report, 50 grams of processed meat a day - less than two slices of bacon raised the chance of developing colorectal cancer by 18 per cent.

It said, while red meats were "probably carcinogenic" the evidence was limited.

The WHO report however stressed that meat also had health benefits.

According to Cancer Research UK, this was a reason to cut down rather than give up red and processed meats, and added that an occasional bacon sandwich would do little harm.

Processed meat is meat modified to increase its shelf-life or alter its taste - such as by smoking, curing or adding salt or preservatives.

The risk of cancer could increase due to the additions and high temperature cooking such as on a barbeque that could also create carcinogenic chemicals.

The WHO had come to the conclusion on the advice of its International Agency for Research on Cancer, which assessed the best available scientific evidence.

According to commentators, it had now placed processed meat in the same category as plutonium or alcohol as these definitely caused cancer.

This, however, did not mean they were equally dangerous and a bacon sandwich was not as bad as smoking.

The France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the WHO, had placed meat such as hot dogs and ham in its group 1 list, which already included tobacco, asbestos and diesel fumes, for which there was "sufficient evidence" of cancer links.

"For an individual, the risk of developing colorectal (bowel) cancer because of their consumption of processed meat remains small, but this risk increases with the amount of meat consumed," Dr Kurt Straif of the IARC said in a statement.

The IARC included beef, lamb and pork under red meat and classified as a "probable" carcinogen in its group 2A list that also contained glyphosate, the active ingredient in many weedkillers.

The lower classification for red meat reflected "limited evidence" that it caused cancer and though the IARC found links mainly with bowel cancer, as was the case for processed meat, but it also observed associations with pancreatic and prostate cancer.