Can bacon give you cancer, what have different reports revealed and is nitrate-free bacon safer?

BACON is one of the nation’s favourite breakfast items, but could it be causing you harm?

As nitrate-free bacon becomes available to buy in supermarkets, this is what the experts are saying about bacon, sausages and other processed meats consumption…

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Can bacon give you breast cancer?

Experts have warned that middle-aged women eating more than 9g a day — the equivalent of two sausages or three rashers of bacon in a week — were up to a fifth (20 per cent) more likely to develop breast cancer than those eating none.

Experts at the University of Glasgow analysed 260,000 middle-aged British women and found processed meat could cause hundreds of breast cancer cases each year.

The World Health Organisation already classes salted, cured and fermented meats as leading causes of cancer. Many contain high levels of chemicals to preserve and colour them.

However, University of Glasgow experts found no risk to younger women of eating processed meats — and no link between breast cancer and red meat in any women.

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Does bacon cause bowel cancer?

In 2015, the World Health Organisation warned there were significant increases in the risk of bowel cancer from eating processed meats such as bacon that traditionally have nitrites added as they are cured.

It said that eating 50g — or two rashers — of nitrite-cured bacon a day increases the risk of bowel cancer by 18 per cent.

And it claims 34,000 people are killed every year worldwide by bowel and colon cancers linked to eating processed meats.

In 2015, it ranked processed meat like bacon as being a group one carcinogen (high cancer risk) along with alongside cigarettes, asbestos and sunbeds.

According to Cancer Research UK, 21 per cent of bowel cancers and 3 per cent of all cancers are caused by red meat.

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How many people are affected by breast cancer in the UK?

Breast cancer is the most common female cancer in the UK.

There are around 55,000 new cases each year and it claims around 11,000 lives annually, according to the most recent figures in 2014.

New cases have increased by a fifth since the 1990s, triggered by lifestyle factors such as obesity, but mortality rates have decreased by 35 per cent since the early 1970s.

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Is nitrate-free bacon safer?

In January, bacon produced without adding nitrites during the curing process will be available to millions in UK supermarkets.

One company offering the meat is Naked Bacon, produced by Northern Ireland food firm Finnebrogue.

Instead it uses natural fruit and spice extracts in the curing process.

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The World Health Organisation has ruled adding nitrites, which acts as a preservative and adds to the distinctive pink colour, increases bowel cancer risk.

Sun nutritionist Amanda Ursell said: “Anything that reduces nitrites in our diet has to be a good thing.

“Even small changes for the better are likely to reduce the risk of diseases such as cancer.”