Why did doctors officially recognize sausages and frankfurters as unhealthy products? What in their composition provokes the development of stomach cancer and other diseases?
Why are sausages and sausages harmful?
WHO recommendation on processed meat products
This year, the World Health Organization compared the health risks posed by eating processed meats (sausages, sausages and other processed foods) with the risks posed by smoking cigarettes or using asbestos(1).
Experts noted that processed meat significantly increases the risk of intestinal cancer and recommended limiting the consumption of such products to 50 grams per day. In this material we will try to figure out why sausages and sausages are harmful.
Meat for sausage
The raw materials for sausage products are “intensively fed animals” kept under conditions of limited movement. Since such animals practically do not move, their meat becomes extremely fatty, while having a light color and loose consistency.
If under normal conditions a cow eats grass, then a cow from a meat processing plant lives on corn (naturally, GMO) and protein supplements, which are the ground bones of her fellow cows. The result is a shift in the fat balance towards more harmful omega-6 fats (2).
Adding vegetable fats
Up to 98% of the animal carcass is used in the processing process. The fat from the skin and bones is rendered and added to the minced meat to produce a juicier (and cheaper) product. Additionally, hydrogenated vegetable fats are introduced - primarily palm fats.
During such processing, the fatty acids contained in palm oil change their structure, turning into trans fats that are hazardous to health. The irony is that in its natural form, palm oil is one of the most beneficial.
Stabilizers
When light and loose meat is ground into fine minced meat, when harmful vegetable fats are added, it becomes even more colorless and looks like a shapeless mass. To create an elastic structure and a red “meaty” color, stabilizers and dyes are added.
Traditionally, starch and gelatin were used as stabilizers (remember jellied meat), but now they have been replaced by hydrocolloids, which bind water and minced meat ten times better. To imagine their effect, think of wallpaper glue diluted in water.
Sodium nitrite: a dangerous preservative
Sodium nitrite is added to sausage mince for two reasons. Firstly, it is what gives the colorless mixture of animal and vegetable fats the familiar bright red color. Secondly, it is a powerful preservative that interferes with the development of cadaveric bacteria.
Many experts are confident that eating sodium nitrite leads to stomach cancer(3), but it is impossible to exclude it from the composition of sausages - without this component, the meat will begin to rot intensively within a few hours, even when refrigerated.
Flavor enhancers
It is a deeply mistaken belief that flavor enhancers are the worst component of sausage. Monosodium glutamate is a well-understood and researched substance that has no side effects on health and is found in many natural products (tomatoes, cheese).
Adding glutamate to an absolutely tasteless mass of loose meat, vegetable fat, stabilizers and preservatives cannot solve the problem. Spices for sausage are ground in a vacuum at -192C, or in the presence of carbon dioxide and ultra-high pressure.
What's harmful about sausage?
Modern sausages are a complex chemical product, only a small part consisting of what an ordinary person would call “meat”. In 20 years, it will be difficult to believe that anyone could actually be unaware of their harm.

Separately, it is worth noting that sausages and sausages are prohibited from being fried, boiled or subjected to other heat treatment - the components they contain can aggressively oxidize, thereby becoming powerful carcinogens that provoke cancer.
The World Health Organization has officially recognized sausages, frankfurters and other processed meat products as harmful to health and recommended limiting the consumption of processed meat to no more than 50 grams per day.

Sausage is perhaps the most common product in our refrigerators. You can use it to make a sandwich for work, give it to your child, cut it for a holiday table, or just have a snack - and it’s appropriate everywhere. But is the sausage sold in stores really completely natural? Is it possible to eat it every day, much less give it to small children?

Sausage according to GOST

According to GOST, sausage is a product made from minced meat placed in a casing. Sausages are: blood, smoked, uncooked, semi-smoked, boiled, blood. According to GOST, the following ingredients are allowed in sausages: fatty/lean meat, fat, pepper, salt. According to the same GOST, sausage must contain lard. But, in order to save money, manufacturers add not natural lard, but vegetable fats. Thus, the cost of the product is reduced in price, which is beneficial to the manufacturer, but there is no benefit from this for the buyer.

Natural sausage should contain seasonings such as: onion, garlic, cumin, cardamom, allspice and red pepper. More expensive sausages contain cognac, but you must understand that the cost of such a product will be the same as cognac.

To make the sausage contain more protein and be even healthier, milk, milk protein, whole milk, and eggs are added to it. Again, we are talking about natural sausage now.

Calorie content

Depending on what type of sausage you bought, its calorie content will also differ.

Boiled sausage– 300 kcal per 100 grams (contains 30% fat, 15% protein).

Cooked smoked sausage– 410 kcal per 100 grams (40% fat, 17% protein).

Smoked sausage– 580 kcal (57% fat, 30% protein).

Product benefits

Can sausage be healthy? Absolutely any doctor will tell you that sausage can be healthy only if it is made from natural meat without any additives (except for the necessary spices to taste). But! Have you read the composition of those sausages that are presented in stores? Surely their composition is far from what is specified in GOST for sausage and sausage products.

Odor, color, and taste enhancers are added to “modern” sausage. Moreover, if they did not pose a health hazard, then sausage could be eaten in kilograms. But, as studies show, constant consumption of sausage leads to the occurrence of diseases such as:

• Diabetes;
• Hypertension;
• Cardiac ischemia;
• Gout;
• Inflammatory and infectious diseases of the liver and kidneys;

Those who eat sausage or sausage products every day are obese and are more likely to face atherosclerosis in the near future.

Conclusion: sausage, the composition of which is at least minimally close to natural, can be useful. If the amount of ingredients on the product label is difficult to read, then you should not buy such sausage - it clearly will not bring any benefit.

Choosing sausage

The healthiest and most expensive sausage is considered to be the one whose main ingredient is turkey. This sausage has a minimum content of fatty foods and seasonings in the form of salt and pepper.

When choosing sausage, be sure to pay attention to its color. Do you think that the pinker the sausage, the better? The more meat there is? You are wrong!

The deep pink color of the sausage indicates that it contains a large amount of sodium nitrite solution.

A few grams of sodium nitrite will not harm the human body, but in large quantities it will cause illness.

Also, remember the fact that absolutely all sausages are perishable products. Therefore, always pay attention to the production date of the sausage and its deadline for sale. Never buy sausage on sale that has expired or is about to expire.

Try to choose a product that contains as few calories as possible. Don’t forget to pay attention to what document the sausage is made in accordance with. It is better to pay more and buy the sausage that is made according to GOST, rather than according to TU. Don’t be surprised if sausage according to GOST is very expensive, in most cases more expensive than a kilogram of fresh meat.

The World Health Organization has issued a statement that sausages and sausage products warn that sausages, sausages, sausages, and sausages in most cases can be compared in terms of danger class with smoking and drinking alcohol.

As a result of the experiments, it was found that constant consumption of sausage can provoke malignant processes in the intestines. Sausage consumption should be reduced to 50 grams per day.

• Sausage is made from the meat of animals that are subject to intensive fattening, which is unnatural from the point of view of nature and physiology, but very profitable for sellers. Animals on farms practically do not move, due to which they rapidly gain body weight. The meat of such animals is light in color and has a loose texture.
• Meat from a domestic cow will cost several times more than meat from a cow raised in a meat processing plant. Why? It all depends on nutrition. In the first case, the cow eats natural grass, in the second, GMO corn, additives, and protein.
• Sausage contains a large amount of extraneous harmful fats - fat from animal skins and bones. All this is ground, boiled and goes into sausage.
• 95% of sausages on the market contain palm and other hydrogenated vegetable fats.
• To make minced sausage more elastic, stabilizers, dyes, starch, hydrocolloids, and special glue are added to it.
• Sausage contains a dangerous preservative – sodium nitrite.

And they represent the most valuable and healthy food. But sausages, sausages, ready-made cutlets, etc. are one of the most dangerous foods. Why is this happening? Where is the logic? Let's try to figure it out.

What meat is considered industrially processed?

• All sausages, sausages, sausages - from boiled to raw smoked
• All types of dried, smoked and dried meat
• Hams, hams, bacon
• Dumplings, cutlets
• Canned meat

Meat that has only been cut for sale is not considered industrially processed.

Why are sausages and sausages harmful?

To date, it has been carried out great amount Scientific research has shown that industrially processed meat consumed daily increases the risk of developing diseases such as:

• arterial hypertension
• heart and vascular diseases
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• oncological diseases of the gastrointestinal tract

They also contribute to excess weight gain and obesity.

What components of sausages and ready-made cutlets lead to such devastating health consequences? Obviously, this is not meat, fat or spices. What then?

Sodium nitrite

Sodium nitrite is always used to produce meat products. The reason for the popularity of this chemical in the food industry is that sodium nitrite has several properties that are remarkable for this industry. He:

• improves the color of sausages, making them pink instead of gray
• prevents products from burning due to fat oxidation
• helps fight the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria.

There is nothing wrong with sodium nitrite in itself. However, in industrially processed meat, sodium nitrite often turns into various N-nitroso compounds, such as nitrosamines, which are known to cause cancer.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are formed when organic compounds burn. In relation to the production of meat products, this means that most of them are in those delicacies that were produced by smoking. All of these products carry traces of smoke, which contains quite a lot of PAHs.

The main harm of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons lies in their carcinogenic properties.

Heterocyclic amines

Another class of carcinogenic compounds that are also present in many prepared meat products. However, you can get such a delight as heterocyclic amines at home, if the meat is exposed to very high temperatures for a very long time, for example, by frying.

But if meat is cooked, especially steamed, or stewed at a not very high temperature, heterocyclic amines are not formed.

In industry, extremely high temperatures are used to prepare stew, sausages or hamburgers, and therefore heterocyclic amines are usually present in these food products.

Glycation end products

Like heterocyclic amines, these molecules are also formed when meat is cooked at very high temperatures.

Once in the body, advanced glycation end products cause oxidative stress and inflammation, which lead to the development of heart, vascular, and kidney diseases, diabetes and cancer.

Salt

We have already talked about the fact that. Therefore, it may seem that there is nothing wrong with the fact that sausages, hams and carbonates carry salt. In principle, this is the case if you made the sausage yourself and salted it properly.

But industrially produced meat products usually contain not a lot, but a lot of salt.

When cooking at home, it is almost impossible to salt food so that salt consumption exceeds the permissible limits. But with regular heavy consumption of ready-made meat dishes, it is very easy to oversaturate your body with salt.

Excessive salt consumption not only increases the risk of developing hypertension and cardiovascular diseases, but can also provoke the occurrence of certain types of cancer, such as stomach cancer.

Flavor enhancers

These chemicals, the best known of which is monosodium glutamate, are closely linked to the problem of overeating and all the resulting consequences from obesity to diabetes and hypertension.

The point of using flavor enhancers by the food industry is to make people eat, and therefore buy, more and more. Food with flavor enhancers does not fill you up. It often has the opposite effect: the more you eat it, the more you want to chew further.

All industrially produced deli meats today contain flavor enhancers. And if monosodium glutamate is not indicated on the packaging, this only means that in this type of sausage it is replaced by some other compound with similar properties.

You can read more about the harmful effects of monosodium glutamate on the human body, and how natural beneficial glutamate differs from artificial glutamate.

Sugars and carbohydrates

Strange as it may seem, industrial meat products, especially inexpensive sausages, sausages, and cutlets, contain sugar. Sometimes in quite a large volume. As well as other not very healthy carbohydrates, for example, semolina.

The presence of sugars and other carbohydrates again links industrial meat products with the problem of excess weight and its negative consequences.

Someone might argue that sausage is not candy, and there is not that much sugar in it. Certainly. But this is unaccounted for, so-called hidden sugar, sugar that a person may not even be aware of consuming.

And often it is the consumption of such hidden sugar and hidden easily digestible carbohydrates that nullifies all attempts by those losing weight or. People think they are following the rules - eating protein with healthy fat, but in reality they are eating carbohydrates again.

Do you like sausages? Then maybe you shouldn't read this article. In terms of harmfulness, WHO experts have already equated sausage to cigarettes, and recent studies clearly show the relationship between the consumption of processed meat and intestinal cancer.

Not just sausage: what can be considered processed meat

Based on its name, processed meat is meat that has undergone some processing after slaughter. At the same time, meat can be processed in any way: by grinding, adding chemicals; treat with various solutions; mix with other ingredients to create emulsions; smoke, preserve and so on.

Processed meat products are stored in vacuum packaging, canned food, frozen, dried or smoked, as well as in the form of sausages and sausages, which have long been included in the diet.

Eating processed meat is considered unhealthy. Back in the mid-60s, doctors started talking about the harmfulness of sausages, but at that time no research had yet been conducted on this matter. Today, no one doubts this, taking into account the fact that the degree of meat processing has become much more “sophisticated”.

Many people mistakenly believe that processed meat only refers to sausage. At the same time, when WHO made a report on processed meat, they had in mind not only sausage. This list also includes sausages, bacon, ham, corned beef, dry meat, jerky and smoked meat. It's sad when everything delicious is considered unhealthy. Only meat that has been simply frozen or chopped can be considered unprocessed.

What should be in sausages and what is in them

If we talk about sausage products in supermarkets, then, according to experts, you will not find a good product there. After all, the best sausage is the one that contains nothing but natural meat and spices.

Analysis of Ukrainian sausages

The Medved Institute of Ecohygiene periodically conducts research on the composition of sausage products sold on the Ukrainian market. The research results are disappointing. Thus, sausages in a polymer casing consist of almost 50% emulsion. These are ground skins, bones and offal, which are boiled and turned into a pulp, and then used to produce sausages. They are also high in soy protein, and the meat content ranges from 7 to 15%. The rest is flour, starch and flavorings.

If the bulk of the sausage is starch, soy and flour, and there is very little meat, then such a product cannot be called sausage. It's more like a soy loaf.

If we talk about an ideal sausage, then its composition should include meat, lard and (salt, pepper and others). Soviet GOST provided for just such a sausage, and it was stored for only a few days, and then spoiled, since it contained natural ingredients. Thus, according to GOST, “Doctor’s sausage” should consist of 70% trimmed lean pork, 25% beef, 3% chicken eggs and 2% cow’s milk powder or whole milk. As you understand, today it is impossible to find doctor’s sausage with such a composition. Currently, instead of GOST, manufacturers establish their own specifications (technical conditions), according to which they produce the product.

Sausage consumption and unhealthy lifestyle

Apparently, eating sausages will soon be equated with bad habits. What difference does it make from which agent a person gets harm: from a cigarette or from sausage.

As observations show, sausages are systematically consumed by people who, one way or another, lead an unhealthy lifestyle. Among those who play sports and monitor the quality of their diet, you will find few who eat sausage or frankfurters.

Interesting studies were carried out by Finnish scientists. They found that it is more common among those people who consume a lot of sausages. That is, this is a category of people who are not burdened with caring about their health.

At the same time, the above study raises a number of other interesting questions. Are the diseases that occur in people who consume sausage products related specifically to processed meat? If this is a category of people who generally lead an unhealthy lifestyle (do not exercise, smoke, are prone to alcohol abuse), then perhaps it’s all about unhealthy habits?

Sausage and cancer

However, these doubts were dispelled. In 2015, experts from the World Health Organization issued a report on the dangers of processed meat. They analyzed data from more than 800 large-scale studies, from which they concluded that the systematic consumption of processed foods contributes to the development of certain types of bowel cancer. And in terms of harmfulness, sausages are equal to cigarettes. Therefore, if you eat sausage, you cause yourself harm comparable to cigarettes.

Processed Meats and Chronic Diseases

Consumption of processed meat is associated with an increased risk of many chronic diseases. These include:

• High blood pressure (hypertension).
• Heart diseases .
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
• Colon cancer and stomach cancer.

Research on processed meat consumption in humans is ongoing. In particular, they show that people who eat processed meat are more likely to develop the above diseases, but these studies do not yet prove that processed meat caused these diseases. However, the correlation is obvious, despite the lack of a complete evidence base.

In addition, the harm of sausages (and their ability to provoke chronic diseases) is confirmed by animal studies. For example, studies on rats show that eating processed meat increases the risk of colon cancer and cardiovascular disease.

What is clear is that processed meat contains harmful chemicals that can increase the risk of chronic disease. The most widely studied compounds are discussed below.

Nitrites and nitroso compounds

N-nitroso compounds are carcinogenic substances that enter the body when eating sausages. These substances are formed from nitrite (sodium nitrite), which is added to processed meat products.

Sodium nitrite in sausages

One of the components of all sausages is sodium nitrite. This substance is used as a supplement for three main reasons:

1. Sodium nitrite helps preserve the pink/red color of meat.
2. Sodium nitrite improves taste because it inhibits fat oxidation (rancidity is eliminated).
3. Sodium nitrite prevents the growth of bacteria in sausages.

Agree, it’s a very convenient substance, adding which you can kill several birds with one stone at the same time.

Nitrite and related compounds such as nitrates are also found in other foods. For example, nitrates are found in relatively large quantities in some vegetables.

Nitrites in processed meats can be converted into harmful N-nitroso compounds, the most widely studied of which are nitrosamines. Currently, processed meat is the main source of nitrosamines. Other sources include contaminated drinking water, tobacco smoke, and salted and pickled vegetables.

Nitrosamines are primarily formed when processed meat products are exposed to high temperatures (above 130°C), such as when frying or grilling such foods.

As for the danger of intestinal cancer from excessive consumption of sausages, nitrosamine may be one of the reasons. Animal studies suggest that nitrosamines may play an important role in the formation of colon cancer. Such observations were also made in humans, which revealed that nitrosamine may be one of the candidates for the role of a major factor in the development of intestinal and stomach cancer.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

One of the oldest methods of preserving meat is smoking it. This leads to the formation of various potentially hazardous substances. These include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are a large class of substances formed when organic compounds are burned.

PAHs are released into the air through smoke and accumulate on the surface of smoked meats and meats.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can be formed under the following conditions:

• Burning wood or charcoal.
• When burning fat dripping from meat.
• When burning and charring meat and meat products.

For this reason, smoked meat products may contain large amounts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Numerous animal studies have shown that some PAHs may also be. The use of products containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is highly undesirable.

Heterocyclic amines

Heterocyclic amines are a class of chemical compounds that are formed when meat or fish is cooked at high temperatures, such as during frying or grilling.

It is noteworthy that their content is not limited to processed meats, but significant amounts of heterocyclic amines can be found in sausages, fried bacon and meat products.

As with nitrosamine and polycyclic hydrocarbons, heterocyclic amines have been found to increase the likelihood of developing cancer. Studies were conducted on animals that were fed food containing excess heterocyclic amines.

HCA levels can be minimized by using less aggressive cooking methods such as low temperature frying, boiling or. It is highly recommended to avoid consuming charred meat and meat products as they contain the most harmful substances.

Calorie bomb

But let's put chemistry aside and talk about calories. Sausage is a very high-calorie product, and its consumption will certainly affect your figure. Thus, the calorie content of boiled sausage is 200-350 kcal/100g; boiled-smoked - 350-420 kcal/100g; raw smoked - 350-600 kcal/100g. For comparison, the calorie content of beef is about 200 kcal/100g; chicken - 170 kcal/100g.

As you understand, we cannot classify sausages as dietary products, and their frequent consumption leads to excess weight gain.

5 reasons not to eat sausage

Now let's summarize. So why should you avoid eating processed meat? Here are five concrete arguments indicating that by consuming such products, you are only harming yourself:

1. Chemical additives. Chemicals added to sausages are harmful to your health. First of all, irritation of the mucous membranes of the digestive tract occurs. In the long term, this is fraught with the development of serious problems.
2. Processed meat contributes to colon cancer. It has been found that sausages may increase the risk of developing certain types of bowel cancer. This, of course, does not mean that they always cause this disease, but in a certain percentage of people they can contribute to the degeneration of normal intestinal cells into malignant ones.
3. Sausage - a combination of incompatible ingredients. According to the rules of food compatibility, it is not recommended to combine proteins, fats and carbohydrates in one meal. In sausage, all of the above components are found in excess. On top of that, we usually eat sausage with bread, butter or cheese, which only makes matters worse. Because of this combination, problems arise with digesting food, which can lead to the development of bloating, flatulence and putrefactive processes in the intestines.
4. Calorie content of sausage. The high content of fat, starch, flour and salt makes sausage a fairly high-calorie product. Regular consumption of sausage products not only accumulates fatty tissue, but also develops swelling (due to the increased salt content).
5. Unpredictable factors. You cannot know about the production technology of the sausage you eat. All hope lies in a conscientious manufacturer and the honesty of regulatory authorities.

Well, there’s an additional argument against sausage: it’s not a cheap product at all. And if we are talking about sausages with German or Italian tricolors on them, then most of us cannot afford such products. You are wasting money on sausage, and on top of that you are harming your health. Agree, this is a completely irrational approach. There is a serious debate in European countries about whether to increase the tax for sausage producers. The more expensive the sausage, the less often it will be consumed. This policy regarding cigarettes worked well and bore fruit.

People who eat sausages have a higher risk of early death, new research claims. Does this mean we should give up sausage, or will everything be fine if we buy quality sausages and grill them instead of frying them?

Sausages have never been considered a health food. But why are sausages harmful?

Chemicals called nitrites and nitrates are of concern because they can become carcinogens in the body. According to Cancer Research UK, these substances occur naturally in red meat and are often added as a preservative during meat processing.

All red meat contains a red pigment called heme, which can be broken down in the intestines into nitroso-containing compounds, many of which are thought to cause cancer. Additionally, heme can irritate or damage the cells lining the intestines, causing them to divide more quickly. Most likely, it is this process that increases the risk of developing cancer.

Are there other factors that make sausage unhealthy?

These two factors, as well as the relatively high fat content of sausages and salt content, which are also associated with a high risk of developing diseases, have led to recommendations to reduce the consumption of sausages and red meat.
We've heard many stories about creepy things in sausage. Is it possible to avoid problems by buying sausages with a high meat content?

Cancer Research notes: “We are not talking about poor quality meat, but about eating large quantities of meat in general. “In addition, high salt levels are known to increase the risk of stomach disease.”

Although a high percentage of meat content indicates a high quality sausage (for example, sausages containing 70% meat), this means less of other fat-reducing foods, such as grains, fruits or vegetables, which are often added to add flavor. (leeks or apples). There are many ways to avoid the risk of cancer, but, unfortunately, buying expensive sausages is not one of them. Instead, you need to reduce their consumption.

Is there any information on the label that will indicate that this sausage is harmless?

Buy fresh sausage and look at what is included - the fewer ingredients, the better. To maintain a healthy diet, look for sausages that are relatively low in fat and salt, or opt for poultry products.

What if you grilled sausage and poked holes in it to allow the fat to escape?

In this case, of course, the sausage will be safer for your cardiovascular system (the health service recommends grilling sausages rather than frying them), but this will not greatly reduce the harm of sausages and sausages and their carcinogenic properties. You'll have to settle for dry, tasteless sausage, because it's the fat that gives it such an amazing taste.

Are such exotic products as Parma ham, serrano or bresaola also deadly? They seem quite dietary.

Yes, they are low in fat, but they are made from red meat, which is the problem. The use of salts during cooking (sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite) aggravates the situation, as they have strong antibacterial properties that prevent the development of pathogenic bacteria, such as botulinum toxin, which appears during the curing process, but these salts also increase the danger to our health.

If the problem is chemicals, is dried fish dangerous?

Cancer Research UK says there is currently no convincing evidence that eating chicken and fish, smoked or not, causes cancer. There is evidence that eating foods such as fish, poultry, beans and lentils may be beneficial.

So you can enjoy your smoked salmon with peace of mind.