Bacon

[[File:Slanina.JPG|165px|thumb|Bacon schmacon. We can take it or leave it.]]
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'''Bacon''' is a [[pork]] product commonly known by the public to be a guilty pleasure; it's [[Fun:Delicious|tasty]] but also unhealthy. If you're [[Judaism|Jewish]] or [[Islam|Muslim]], you're missing out.

==Cancer==
In 2015, the {{wpl|World Health Organization}} stated habitual processed meat (including bacon) consumption increases the risk of {{wpl|colorectal cancers}} by eighteen percent.<ref>{{cite web|title=Processed meats do cause cancer – WHO|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/health-34615621|accessdate=27 October 2015}}</ref><ref name=iarc/>

In 2018, The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) found that there was sufficient evidence that processed meat (e.g., bacon, sausage, ham, corned beef, hot dogs, and jerky){{efn|Processed meat is meat that has been salted, cured, fermented, smoked or otherwise had its flavor enhanced to improve preservation.<ref name=iarc/>{{rp|33}}}} causes [[cancer]] of the colorectum.<ref name=iarc>[https://monographs.iarc.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/mono114.pdf Red Meat and Processed Meat] IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, Volume 114 (2018) International Agency for Research on Cancer.</ref>{{rp|497}} IARC found that there were also "[p]ositive associations have been observed between consumption of processed meat and cancer of the stomach." Additionally, IARC found that there was limited evidence that consumption of red meat (including bacon) has a positive association with cancers of the pancreas and prostate.<ref name=iarc/>{{rp|497}} What this means is that the more processed meat (and possibly even red meat) that you eat, the more likely it is that you will get cancer.<ref name=iarc/>{{rp|497}}

Processed meats are also known to contain three different classes of chemicals that are carcinogenic in rodents: heterocyclic aromatic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and nitrosamines.<ref name=iarc/>

==Health claims==
===Bacon has good fat===
{| class="wikitable"
|+Bacon fat breakdown<ref name=healthline>https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-bacon-bad-or-good</ref>
|-
!50%
|{{wpl|Monounsaturated}}
|-
!40%
|{{wpl|Saturated fat}}
|-
!10%
|{{wpl|Polyunsaturated}}
|}

While it is true that 50% percent of bacon fat is monounsaturated (a "good" fat), and also contains some omega-3 fatty acids (very good fats). Bacon also has a very high percentage of total fat, as well as bad or saturated fat (40%).<ref name=webmd/> Bacon is also high in [[salt]], and a high salt diet is associated with high blood pressure.

Bacon (and other processed meats) can still be incorporated in a healthy diet, it just has to be consumed in low amounts and only occasionally.<ref name=webmd>[https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/truth-about-bacon The Truth About Bacon] by Janie McQueen (2016) ''WebMD''.</ref> This moderate consumption is not practiced in America and Canada due to {{wpl|Bacon mania||.}}

===Bacon has nutritional value===
Bacon is an excellent source of protein and contains decent amounts of minerals.<ref name=healthline/><ref>http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/pork-products/7676/2</ref> The beneficial nutritional aspects of bacon are outweighed by the negative aspects of bacon,<ref name=webmd/> and those beneficial aspects can all be easily obtained from more healthy sources such as olive oil, poultry and [[fish]].

===Propaganda===
{{main|Propaganda}}
Following a trend in the 1980s in the US of healthier eating and the understanding that saturated fat and cholesterol were unhealthy, the price of pork bellies (from which bacon is derived) collapsed to as low as 19¢ per pound. US pork producers had to export the pork bellies to Eastern Europe to make any profit at all. Enter [[marketing]]: the National Pork Board began pushing bacon into various products, especially fast food hamburgers.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20141013073411/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-06/bacon-why-americas-favorite-food-mania-happened The Bacon Boom Was Not an Accident] by David Sax (October 06, 2014) ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' (archived from October 13, 2014).</ref>
*"It's better with bacon."
*"Everything goes with bacon."
*"Even cats are improved by bacon."<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/ode-to-bacon-and-the-bacon-sundae/2012/06/13/gJQAsKsmaV_blog.html An ode to bacon and the bacon sundae] by Alexandra Petri (June 13, 2012 at 6:25 p.m. EDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref>
<gallery>
File:Bacon gumballs.jpg|Uh… maybe not.
File:Food signage at the Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto.jpg|Definitely not.
</gallery>

==Pray unto thee==
{{Moral}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{fun}}
{{Reflist|2}}
[[Category:Human carcinogens]]
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Categories: Human carcinogens