Bacon

Bacon is a pork product commonly known by the public to be a guilty pleasure; it's tasty but also unhealthy. If you're Jewish or Muslim, you're missing out.

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Cancer

In 2015, the World Health OrganizationFile:Wikipedia's W.svg stated habitual processed meat (including bacon) consumption increases the risk of colorectal cancersFile:Wikipedia's W.svg by eighteen percent.[1]

In 2018, The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) found that there was sufficient evidence that processed meat (e.g., bacon, sausage, ham, corned beef, hot dogs, and jerky)[note 1] causes cancer of the colorectum.[2]:497 IARC found that there were also "[p]ositive associations have been observed between consumption of processed meat and cancer of the stomach." Additionally, IARC found that there was limited evidence that consumption of red meat (including bacon) has a positive association with cancers of the pancreas and prostate.[2]:497 What this means is that the more processed meat (and possibly even red meat) that you eat, the more likely it is that you will get cancer.[2]:497

Processed meats are also known to contain three different classes of chemicals that are carcinogenic in rodents: heterocyclic aromatic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and nitrosamines.[2]

Health claims

Bacon has good fat
Bacon fat breakdown[3]
50% MonounsaturatedFile:Wikipedia's W.svg
40% Saturated fatFile:Wikipedia's W.svg
10% PolyunsaturatedFile:Wikipedia's W.svg

While it is true that 50% percent of bacon fat is monounsaturated (a "good" fat), and also contains some omega-3 fatty acids (very good fats). Bacon also has a very high percentage of total fat, as well as bad or saturated fat (40%).[4] Bacon is also high in salt, and a high salt diet is associated with high blood pressure.

Bacon (and other processed meats) can still be incorporated in a healthy diet, it just has to be consumed in low amounts and only occasionally.[4] This moderate consumption is not practiced in America and Canada due to Bacon mania.File:Wikipedia's W.svg

Bacon has nutritional value

Bacon is an excellent source of protein and contains decent amounts of minerals.[3][5] The beneficial nutritional aspects of bacon are outweighed by the negative aspects of bacon,[4] and those beneficial aspects can all be easily obtained from more healthy sources such as olive oil, poultry and fish.

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Notes
  1. Processed meat is meat that has been salted, cured, fermented, smoked or otherwise had its flavor enhanced to improve preservation.[2]:33
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References
  1. "Processed meats do cause cancer – WHO". Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  2. Red Meat and Processed Meat IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, Volume 114 (2018) International Agency for Research on Cancer.
  3. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-bacon-bad-or-good
  4. The Truth About Bacon by Janie McQueen (2016) WebMD.
  5. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/pork-products/7676/2
For those of you in the mood, RationalWiki has a fun article about Bacon.
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