In defence of bacon

Listening to the morning news I was surprised to learn that yet another staple favourite food of mine - bacon is a potential, if not actual threat to my health. This "threat" includes sausages and ham. Not so central to my dietary needs but yet another nail in my continuing consumption of "unhealthy foods.

This comes at a time when Jamie Oliver is trying to get me to pay more for my sweet tooth. Mostly chocolate (especially Cadbury's) but that's high in this apparently addictive substance. It's in my coke to (as if I didn't know) but I prefer sugar to artificial sweeteners.

Then I discover more bad news in the New York Times who report:

Eating processed meat, like hot dogs and corned beef, can raise the risk in humans of getting colon cancer, a report by the World Health Organization said on Monday.

There was also some evidence that eating red meat, including beef, pork and lamb, can cause cancer in the colon, prostate or pancreas, the W.H.O.’s International Agency for Research on Cancer said in the report.

The report was released after a team of 22 public health, cancer and other experts from 10 countries, reviewed 800 studies on the disease in humans, and sifted through epidemiological data on the consumption of processed and red meats.

The findings, which are meant to help governments make dietary recommendations, linked increased risks of developing certain cancers to the amount of meat consumed.

Consumed daily, each 50 grams of processed meat, equal to about two slices of ham or a sausage, increases the risk of colon cancer by 18 percent.

The rest of the article is very depressing.

My only query is exactly how Pork counts as "red meat", but I'm a pedant at heart.

Still it seems the bulk of my diet is unhealthy. One suggestion on the telly this morning was to "plan our meals around vegetables". Sounds reasonable to me:

Broccoli, roast potatoes & carrots and beef.

Sounds good to me, though I'm not entirely sure that's what the dietitian chappie wanted me to do.

It seems every so often there's some scare about our food and health that's not related to horse meat or salmonella that should be of concern by the nannying state. I freely admit to being a food hedonist. They may be right, they might not. Either way I like my food and I'm not giving up the bacon.

So on tonight's menu was eggs and smoked molasses spiced streaky bacon from Sainsburys.

Mmm. Delicious.

Just don't tell my Rabbi.......