Cancer Fundraisers Shouldn't CAUSE Cancer

Cancer. It's a horrible word, and a horrible concept linked to so much fear, uncertainty, heartbreak and loss. Cancer is most likely the scariest bodily illness we face in modern western society, it scares us so much because it comes from within us, can strike anybody and can be so totally overpowering and have shocking ramifications on our lives. It is also notoriously difficult to treat, control and recover from and leads to a huge amount of mortality, morbidity and disability each year here in Australia. 

Cancer is a dirty word  and rightly so. The methods we do have to control cancer are extraordinarily uncomfortable and difficult to cope with. We are all quick to join our friends and family and make it clear that we are against cancer and we want to help bring an end to it. Cancer-related charities are among the most popular that we raise money for here in Australia, which is fantastic! I myself shaved my hair off to raise money for a Cancer foundation in 2017 which was an awesome experience. As a part of that event, we had a barbecue for attendees and I want to use this blog post as an educational platform to explain why I strongly advocate against processed meats (yes - including bacon), the kinds that the 'standard aussie BBQ' is full of. 

Almost all of us would agree that there needs to be more research into cancer treatment... But there is a huge problem in the way we talk about cancer prevention or, more accurately, the way we DON'T talk about simple ways to circumvent our cancer risks. And HOW we raise money for these charities is important, because we might be inadvertently exposing ourselves or others' to substances that increase our risk for developing the very thing we're campaigning against.

So what DO we know about cancer prevention? Let's start with some easy ones: in Australia we are acutely aware of the power that the suns rays have on us, especially those of us with fair-coloured skin, and there have been large scale campaigns here since 1981 telling us to 'slip slop slap' on the sunscreen to make sure we prevent burns which could lead to mutations which could cause skin cancer later in life [1]. And, of course, We all know that we shouldn't smoke if we want to prevent cancer. That's a no brainer, but did you know that it actually took a long time between scientific research showing cigarettes cause cancer and making that public knowledge. There were large amounts of people, coroporations and doctors campaigning against anti-smoking groups because they were convinced that it was perfectly healthy to be a regular smoker. Fast forward a few decades and there are cancer and stroke related advertisements everywhere, on television, on radio, and elsewhere advising us that smoking leads to BAD health outcomes, and telling us to quit. We have pictures of horrific diseases like cancer and gangrene on our cigarette packets and we almost all have pointed out our concerns for loved ones in our lives who smoke because of the health risks it predisposes them too - heck, we even have higher premiums on health insurance if you're a smoker! Contrast this with the deathly (no pun intended) silence we have about the consumption of animal products, specifically processed meats. Which, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), definitely cause cancer* [2] (as well as being linked to a whole host of other nasty and chronic disorders) and are definitely totally unnecessary in our diets**[3]. Besides, there's more than just health reasons to avoid meats, there's also environmental and ethical reasons.





Animal products are not at all a requirement for a healthy diet at any age or stage of life including pregnant women and newborn babies, according to the Australian Dietary Guidelines: 

"Appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthy and nutritionally adequate. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the lifecycle" [4]

Let's focus in on one type of cancer specifically, we all know that colorectal cancer is hugely unpleasant and quite a common problem in our society. Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed type of cancer in Australia and it is estimated that it will cost the lives of over 4,000 people in Australia in 2018 alone. Because of its prevalence and the advantage of catching it early, after a certain age everyone in Australia is strongly advised to be screened just to make sure they aren't affected by this cancer. We know this is one of the top three most commonly diagnosed cancers in Australia yet barely anyone knows that published in the 'Meat, fish and dairy products and the risk of cancer' chapter of the World Cancer Research Fund's 'Continuous Update Project Expert Report' of 2018, it was stated that there is strong evidence that colorectal cancer is being caused by the consumption of processed meats. To quote them directly:

"Consumption of processed meat is a convincing cause of colorectal cancer" [5] 

We constantly push for more and more research into treating cancer but we're not advertising or promoting or putting in action in our own lives the research that has ALREADY been done showing how to prevent it in the first place. Why is this? Shouldn't this be common knowledge? Shouldn't we be shouting this from the rooftops? Using this as a campaign strategy seeing as so many of taxpayers dollars are being used to fund this research and pay for the medical care of these cancer patients? Is this because we love our bacon THAT much or is it some conspiratorial cover up? Whatever it is, I think people ought to know that this is what the science says so they can be informed about what risks they are exposing themselves and their children to when they decide what to put in their mouths. 34,000 totally unavoidable deaths can be linked to diets high in processed meat each year:

"According to the most recent estimates by the Global Burden of Disease Project, an independent academic research organization, about 34 000 cancer deaths per year worldwide are attributable to diets high in processed meat." [6] 

In addition to the colorectal cancer link, there is scientific research which suggests a statistical link (and an understood mechanism) between cooking all muscle-based meats (not just processed meats) at high temperatures (like that of a barbeque) and cancer risk [7]. Despite the research showing undoubted significant risk attributable to processed meats and cancer development, despite public statements issued by the World Health Organisation incriminating processed meats as a KNOWN carcinogen; we still allow people to hold barbecues selling processed meats to raise funds for cancer research or cancer relief charities. This is kind of* like selling cigarettes to send profits to lung cancer research. Sounds totally absurd, doesn't it? 

The World Cancer Research Fund advises limiting red meat intake and states you should endeavour to have little or no processed meats in your diet in order to reduce your risk of cancer [8] 

Should you change your diet overall, i.e. not just at fundraising barbecues? According to one study Conducted in the U.S.:

"Vegetarians were found to have a significantly reduced risk of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. Additionally, a vegan diet may confer lower risk for overall and female-specific cancer than other dietary patterns." [9] 

So we definitely know processed meats are contributing to cancer cases and cancer deaths worldwide. What's the harm in trying some vegan sausages, cook up some Japanese eggplants to replace hotdogs, and throw the beyond meat vegan burger on the barbie [10] at your next fundraiser instead?

It is important to note that, as always, there is more research needed - most of the studies that have shown these results so far have been observational/population wide studies - the mechanisms are needed to be clearly examined and understood before we can state this as totally conclusive; this is why red meat is categorised as 'group 2' of the carcinogens which means "probably causes cancer" because there's more funding needed to research these links in adequately controlled environments to reveal whats really going on (to potentially move it into group 1 - definitely causes cancer, or even downgrade it if something else is to blame), so while studies show a correlation between unprocessed meat intake and cancer we can't be absolutely certain that this is a causal link yet, but for processed meats there IS enough evidence to say so. As we see the numbers of vegans throughout the world rise we can expect to see the caliber of research on dietary comparisons of vegans and non-vegans increase as well because it means that the 'vegan' group won't necessarily be so small which is a confounding variable in scientific research; on the flip side, it is clear that whole plant foods are the healthiest option, so as vegan junk food soars in this new market, watch the space on the correlation between veganism and health. In my personal opinion though, considering there is absolutely no need for meat in the diet, particularly processed meats, I wouldn't wait until we know EVEN more, I would advocate avoiding it altogether from now on in the interest of your health. If you want to know how to do that, try checking out Challenge 22+ which is available worldwide and includes access to Registered Dietitians for health advice. It's only 22 days with loads of help, give vegan a try! 

Thanks very much for reading all the way to the end of this article. I hope this was helpful. Much love to you!!

*NOTE. I am NOT saying that cigarettes and processed meats are exactly the same in the way or severity to which they increase the risk of cancer, they are in the same group of carcinogenics (Group 1) but this just means we know they definitely cause cancer - sunshine is also in this category for example. BUT the difference between sunshine and cigarettes/processed meats is that exposure sunshine is practically unavoidable and has positive health outcomes too, whereas exposure to processed meats and cigarettes is unnecessary, easily avoided, and only has negative health outcomes.

**AND we know that vegans tend to live longer with fewer health problems than non-vegans or non-vegetarians - but that's a topic for another day.

Disclaimer: I am using only publicly available research articles for this project (it just makes copyright navigation THAT much easier) but this is by no means an exhaustive list. If you have permissions for access to more scientific papers, Please do go and find your own research - there are also far more extensively studied resources on the website nutritionfacts.org which is where the embedded video is from. 



 

    

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Links to cited resources: 

[1] Cancer Council

[2] World Health Organisation - Cancer and Meat Questions and Answers

[3] Australian Dietary Guidelines 'Eat for Health'

[4] Vegan Australia - Health

[5] World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research. Continuous Update Project Expert Report 2018. Available at dietandcancerreport.org or follow this link:  Meat Fish and Dairy products

[6] Australian Dietary Guidelines 'Eat For Health' 

[7] Cancer causes: cooked meat factsheet

[8] WCRF diet and cancer recommendations Link: Limit Red and Processed Meat

[9] Dairy, Meat, Linolenic Acid, and Soy Consumption Risk Factors for Prostate, Colorectal, and Breast Cancer in a Cohort with a Wide Range of Dietary Habits: Adventist Health Study-2 (AHS-2) Link: WCRF

[10] www.crueltyfreeshop.com.au/collections/vegan-food/Mock-Meats