Hot Dogs = Cancer?

Yes, I'm a judger. I judge pregnant woman smoking outside the Walmart exit door. I judge people who can't afford produce, but somehow find the cash for their Camel's. I judge people who continuously feed their children McDonald's...even with apple dippers. I judge motorists who don't wear helmets going 80 on I-75.

I judge these people for consciously putting themselves or others in harms way...avoidable harms way. If this pattern holds true, then I need to be judging myself and everyone else at the 18 cookouts I went to this summer. Apparently we were all putting ourselves in harms way as well. I would like to put a formal apology on the record to my friends and family...I'm so sorry for bringing colon cancer to the lake this summer...twice.

Did you know that eating 50g of processed meat (about the amount in 1 hot dog) per day, increases your risk of colorectal cancer by 21%?  “A hot dog a day could send you to an early grave,” says Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's nutrition education director Susan Levin, M.S., R.D. “Processed meats like hot dogs can increase your risk for diabetes, heart disease, and various types of cancer. Like cigarettes, hot dogs should come with a warning label that helps racing fans and other consumers understand the health risk.”

It's a big statement, but if we have warning labels on cigarettes due their cancer causing ingredients, then what's to stop them from labeling every hot dog, soda, candy bar, and tater-tot out there?

A review in the journal Diabetologia found that those who regularly eat processed meats increase their risk for diabetes by 41%; however, it might be that processed meat is usually part of an overall unhealthy diet leading to an array of diseases...not that processed meat causes diabetes or cancer.

Regardless, I think I'll find a new cheap, easy way of packing dinner for the lake!

Further reading:  "Billboard Near Brickyard Warns NASCAR Fans of Cancer-Hot Dog Link"