The hazard ratio as of right now for someone eating processed meat at the clip the WHO proposed and other organizations have proposed for colon cancer is ridiculously low. Does that mean that someone should be eating hotdogs, beef jerky, salami, etc no. The mechanistic data has shown the nitrates and nitrates are carcinogenic which is pretty big. The issue Is how much processed food triggers the formation of polyps and then the bigger question is how much processed food turns those polyps from harmless polyps to colon cancer. With nutrition science we will never know that answer. So imo if someone wants to enjoy. shotdog or a Italian sub once or twice a week then I think the scare tactics involved with telling them that they’re going to get cancer from eating a hot dog a fe times a month is too much. I do think the mechanistic data shows that if someone is eating a bunch of bacon, hotdogs, etc that they should probably slow down and re-evaluate their diets.
Another thing to consider as well is that not all processed foods are made equal. There’s a number of brands that don’t use curing salt, celery powder, cherry powder, etc to cure chicken sausages that you like. Applegate is a great brand. Aldi’s has great chicken sausages that are literally sage and salt. prosciutto is considered a processed meat and it’s literally salt and pork. It’s important that we really boil this convo down to is ingesting nitrates and nitrites dangerous and not blanket deli meats, bacon, sausage, etc.
I steer clear of processed meats because the evidence has mounted enough to classify them as a group one carcinogen.
Also note, unlike meat, nitrates from plants are good:https://www.alternativehealthfoodstore.com/blog/beets-and-baconare-the-nitrates-the-same-with-recipe