General Health
Cured meat linked to elevated risk of COPD
By Ben Wasserman
Sep 12, 2007 - 6:41:10 PM

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WEDNESDAY September 12, 2007 (Foodconsumer.org) -- Those who eat more cured meats may have to face a higher risk of a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a new study published in the September 4, 2007 issue of American Journal of Epidemiology.

The study led by Varraso R at Department of Nutrition of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues found those who ate 4 to 6 servings of processed meats, bacon, and hot dogs were 164 percent more likely to suffer COPD.

Varraso R and colleagues looked at data from 42,915 men who participated in the Health Processionals Follow-up Study and identified 111 self-reported cases of newly diagnosed COPD between 1986 and 1998. Dietary habits were surveyed in 1986, 1990 and 1994.

After a variety of risk factors such as age, smoking status, pack-years squared, energy intake, race/ethnicity, region, body mass index and physical were considered, the researchers found consumption of highest amounts of cured meats was associated with a 164 percent higher risk of newly diagnosed COPD.

But the study did not link consumption of cured meats with increased risk of adult-onset asthma.

In another study of 7,352 adults aged 45 or older who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Jiang R from Columbia University and colleagues found also that cured meats were associated with elevated risk of COPD.

They found those who ate the highest amounts of cured meats were 76 percent more likely to have COPD compared to those who ate the lowest. The results of the study were published in the August 1, 2007 issue of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The researchers said cured meats are high in nitrites, which generate reactive nitrogen species that may cause nitrative and nitrosative damage to the lung resulting in emphysema.

Another early study published in the February, 2003 issue of The Journal of Environmental Pathology, Toxicology and Oncology found eating cured meats increased risk of brain tumors.   Those who ate the highest amounts of bacon and ham were 31 percent and 64 percent more likely to develop glioma, respectively, than those who ate the lowest.   There was not significant association between consumption of hotdogs and the brain tumor risk though.