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Link found between sausage consumption and cancer development
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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The scientists' experiment clearly showed that sausage products can be dangerous: even two sausages in a weekly diet can increase the risk of developing breast cancer in women.
Scientists analyzed health information from more than 260,000 patients and found an unambiguous connection: with daily consumption of nine grams of processed meat products, the risk of breast cancer increases by more than 20%. Nine grams per day is equivalent to about a couple of sausages per week.
Interestingly, the association was specific to processed meat, as including regular red or white meat in the diet did not produce similar negative results.
One of the study's authors, Jill Pell, who heads the Institute of Health at the University of Glasgow, notes that this is not the first time processed meat products have been examined. Such products include those that contain, in addition to meat, modified additives and flavor enhancers - these are sausages, canned meat, etc. Such food satisfies the human taste buds, but has a detrimental effect on health.
Three years ago, the WHO published official confirmation that processed meat products increase the risk of colorectal cancer. This conclusion was made based on an analysis of more than eight hundred scientifically recognized experiments of various sizes.
The study, led by Jill Pell and others, looked at information on more than 260,000 patients, with an average age of 40-70. All the women were taking part in the UK Biobank project, a close-up look at the health of the UK population.
Dr Pell used the information to match cancer cases to the patients’ dietary patterns. All the data was formally verified by the national cancer registry and patient records.
Over a period of seven years, almost five thousand patients were diagnosed with breast cancer. The information allowed us to trace that the consumption of more than nine grams of processed meat products per day increased the risk of developing breast cancer by 21%. Women who did not eat sausages at all were much less likely to develop cancer. The consumption of regular red meat did not affect the incidence rate.
The results of the experiment did not change even if the specialists included other factors in the study, such as the consumption of other foods, lifestyle characteristics, body weight, etc.
"We knew about the adverse effects of processed meat products on human health. However, now we have traced the presence of an additional risk for women in the postmenopausal period - their risk increases by about 9%," explains the results Professor Naveed Sattar, representing the University of Glasgow Cardiovascular Diseases.
The information is presented on the pages of the European Journal of Cancer.