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After the World Health Organization concluded that processed meats cause cancer, millions presumably reconsidered their appetite for bacon and hot dogs.
But for many, the warning may be completely irrelevant.
In a study published in 2014 with little fanfare, researchers found that genetics – a simple difference in your DNA — may determine how dangerous processed meats are for you.
For people with one genetic variant, eating more processed meat was associated with more colorectal cancer, according to the research, just as the WHO scientists have asserted. But for people with the other genetic variant, eating more processed meat did not appear to raise the risk of getting colorectal cancer.
“What this suggests is that there are some people who should be more careful with processed meat, and that there are some that did not increase their risks by eating processed meat,” Jane C. Figueiredo, a co-author of the study published last year in Plos Genetics and an assistant professor of preventive medicine at the University of Southern California said an interview.
The researchers cautioned that the finding has yet to be replicated and that just because one group appeared to be immune from the risks of processed meat does not exclude the possibility that some other undiscovered genetic combination may raise the cancer risk for some in that group. Processed meats might raise the risks of other chronic diseases, too, they said.
Read full, original post: Is bacon actually bad for you? It may depend on your DNA
