25 August 09: Meat in moderation is all that is called for!

I was in Germany last week where the consumption of processed and cured meats must be one of the highest in the world: a Continental breakfast and salami sandwiches are the order of the day. You can imagine my surprise on the Monday morning when I got back home, switched on the news and was told that eating just 1 sausage a day is enough to increase your risk of developing bowel cancer by one fifth... and it's not just sausages either! Any processed meat - including bacon, ham, pastrami, salami and hot dogs are just as dangerous.

Come to that, ANY cooked red meat increases the risk, but to a lesser degree than processed meat. All of which means that, as far as the World Cancer Research Fund is concerned, we shouldn't be eating any processed meats, and no more than 500 grams of cooked red meat (beef, lamb, pork) in a week.

Before you know it there will be demands for butchers to take red meat off display, with a pound of sausages to be sold only to over-18s who can prove their age and who specifically ask for. Meanwhile, all processed meat products will be required to sport a Government health warning, something like "SAUSAGES KILL" or "BACON SERIOUSLY HARMS YOU AND PIGS AROUND YOU".

Let's face it, nobody lives forever. No matter what you do, or how cautious or paranoid you are, you will end up dead sometime in the next 100 years or so. You can either quiver and quake your way to a miserably tedious demise, taking heed of every health fad that comes along, or you can eat, drink some of the great joys of this life.  Imagine life without fine cheeses and wonderful wines, without a wonderful casserole with light fluffy dumplings, a life without roast dinners with roasted potatoes? To those who are even now scheming to avoid the great British Sausage, Egg, Bacon, Beans + Fried Bread, I have just one thing to say ... pass the ketchup!

The BBC have a great article weighing the pros and cons of meat, if you want to learn more.