In making its decision to declare bacon, sausages and other processed meats carcinogens, the World Health Organization's research arm looked at 800 epidemiological studies from numerous countries with diverse ethnicities and diets. They gave the greatest weight to studies done in the general population, had a controlled design, large sample sizes, and/or used quantitative dietary data culled from questionnaires.
Below is a look at five of the key studies cited by the scientists in their announcement published in The Lancet Oncology on Monday. Most of the supporting studies focused on colorectal cancer but the panel said it also looked at data for 15 other types of cancer and found positive associations for red meat and pancreatic and prostate cancer and of processed meat for cancer of the stomach.
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