WHO report shows risks from eating meat wildly exaggerated

David Brown is right to point out that the findings of the recently released World Health Organisation report on the link between cancer and red and processed meats are far more balanced and cautious than alarmist media headlines might suggest. The report actually states that moderate consumption of red meat as part of a balanced diet can provide health benefits, and does not seem to cause any discernible additional cancer risk. 

More surprisingly, in Britain at least, research indicates that there is no difference in the incidence of cancer between vegetarians and meat eaters. That is surely food for thought!

In other words, while the cancer risk related to consuming processed meat in particular needs to be kept in mind, the report actually confirms what we meat-eaters have been claiming all along. Will that silence the vegetarian and animal-rights advocates? Not likely, but at least their claims of health risks arising from the consumption of meat have yet again been shown to be wildly exaggerated.

Robin Grant