No Safe Dose: Processed Meat Is a Health Hazard
A massive new review has confirmed what many already suspected: there’s no such thing as a “safe” amount of processed flesh. Even tiny daily doses — like one hot dog — can crank up your risk of diabetes, colorectal cancer, and heart disease.
Researchers from the University of Washington sifted through data from over 70 studies, covering millions of participants. Their conclusion was blunt: any habitual consumption of processed flesh is dangerous. There’s no magical threshold below which you can shrug it off as harmless.
Processed flesh isn’t just about convenience. It’s chemically preserved, salted, cured, fermented, or smoked to stretch shelf life and pump up flavour. That includes bacon, sausages, ham, salami, and even “harmless-looking” lunch meat slices.
For every hot dog eaten daily, your risk of type 2 diabetes jumps by at least 11%, and your colorectal cancer risk rises by at least 7%. That’s not even considering the vast catalogue of other chronic diseases.
This might seem like old news. After all, we’ve known for years that processed flesh is a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning it’s in the same risk category as smoking and asbestos. But these new numbers underscore that even minimal amounts are a problem — no “moderation” loophole.
Yet while these findings make headlines, there’s a convenient sleight of hand happening in food discourse: the term “processed” gets thrown around as a blanket villain, smearing everything from a cured ham to a block of tofu.
Recent studies from Finland’s University of Turku reveal a glaring flaw in this “processed = bad” narrative. When it comes to plant-based proteins, processing isn’t the enemy — the details are. For instance, fermented soy products like tempeh maintain (and even improve) beneficial phytochemicals like isoflavonoids. Meanwhile, products made from soy protein isolates often lose these compounds.
So-called food “classification” systems lump all these under “processed” or “ultra-processed,” ignoring crucial differences in biochemical composition. Imagine throwing an apple pie and an apple in the same category because they’re both “plant-based.” Ridiculous.
Some types of processing, such as fermentation, can actually enhance nutrient absorption and create new beneficial compounds. It’s not processing per se that’s the issue — it’s what’s being processed, how, and for what purpose.
What remains consistent is this: animal flesh, especially processed, is indefensible. It carries undeniable risks for human health, catastrophic costs for the environment, and is an outright injustice to the individuals whose bodies are commodified.
Meanwhile, plant-based alternatives — even processed ones — don’t come close to matching the harm of processed meat. Multiple reports confirm that swapping animal flesh for plant-based options reduces health risks and environmental footprints. But more importantly, it rejects the violence and exploitation inherent in using someone else’s body as a resource.
We’re told moderation is key, but that’s a convenient lie designed to keep industries thriving at the expense of our health and countless lives. There is no safe level of exploitation, just as there is no safe level of processed meat.
The message is simple: cut the flesh. Shift to whole, plant-based foods as much as possible. Choose alternatives when needed — and don’t let marketing gimmicks and sloppy science muddy the water.