There was a stunned hush between my husband and me as we pulled out of the hospital parking lot. I am aware of the date. I will always remember November 7, 2019. My entire life up until that time would now be referred to as “BBC”—before bowel cancer.
I had slumped forward and placed my head in my hands a few minutes prior as a well-dressed gastrointestinal surgeon validated my greatest anxieties.
A biopsy had shown that the big lump in my colon, which had been discovered a few days before, was in fact malignant. The worse news was that a CT scan revealed my liver had been affected by the cancer.
“I’m afraid that means it’s officially stage-four bowel cancer. But… um, don’t worry, I’m pretty sure it’s all treatable,” he told us, perhaps in a kind attempt to make the bad news good for the weekend. I would find out later that some stage-four patients do beat the odds and can even be cured. But in that moment I thought I might not have long to live.
I started to whirl uncontrollably. Only a few weeks remained till Christmas. Is this going to be my last? How about the kids? In that period of mental turmoil, the only thing that remained constant was my urgent want to access Google.
“What are the causes of bowel cancer?” I typed into my phone as we drove towards our home in Melbourne, where we would have to break the news of my diagnosis to our children, then aged just nine and 11.
It appeared that there were multiple causes and risk factors. I went over each one individually. Was I older than fifty? No. Was I overweight? Yes, a few more pounds like many mothers, but fat? No. Have I smoked? Never.
Was I at hereditary risk or did I have a close family with bowel cancer? No. Did I eat a lot of highly processed foods and little fibre? Not at all; my everyday diet consisted of veggies, fruits, legumes, and oats.
Was I involved? Of course. Did I drink frequently? On Fridays, one or two glasses of pinot noir.
This first search really left me perplexed. Why me? Why now? 44 years old?
“What the hell!” I blurted out, breaking the silence in the car.
Lost in my own universe, I investigated other potential connections. To my dismay, I discovered that numerous studies indicate that eating red and processed meats on a regular basis, including salami, frankfurters, or bacon, puts your health and life at risk.
Processed meats are strongly linked to bowel cancer and other possible health effects. You may already be aware of this from reading the headlines throughout the years. However, it’s possible that, like me at the time, you are not quite aware of the risks, particularly given your youth.
I reflected on my life as I took in this knowledge. I repeatedly reminded myself that I don’t really eat a lot of processed meats. Those plastic gammon packets never appealed to me; instead, I usually favoured salmon, cheese or chicken. But after that, I really began to give it more careful thought.
I reflected on the times I had eaten bacon at brunch. How I would frequently cook a couple bits of bacon to add to my vegetable soup.
As a foreigner missing Hampshire, I reflected about how much I had enjoyed etching the little diamond designs into the enormous gammon leg I prepared each Christmas Eve. Slices of the gammon were always a favourite of mine in the days that followed. Then I remembered all those grocery store visits and how grilled sausages wrapped in white bread might entice me.
Could my colon cancer have been induced by the consumption of these processed meats in my otherwise healthy diet?
Naturally, I would never be certain, but it was made even more difficult by the possibility that I was the cause of my own anguish, not to mention that of my family.
It would have been far simpler to find another potential cause that was beyond my control. I started looking through studies and publications, finding information that I understood the meat business would prefer you were unaware of. I was incensed by what I saw, but I was also resolved to write a book as a journalist to expose the shadowy sides of the processed meat business.
For instance, an extraordinary study of nearly half a million adults (see panel below) concluded that those “with a high consumption of processed meat are at increased risk of early death, in particular due to cardiovascular diseases but also to cancer.”
I gasped when I read this line. However, it wasn’t the only study that made an impact. In 2015, processed meats were placed in the same cancer-risk category as asbestos and tobacco by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Additionally, it claimed that eating 50g of processed beef daily raises the risk of colon cancer by 18%. That just amounts to one sausage, two ham pieces, or a few bacon rashers.
According to Cancer Research UK, 13 percent of the 44,000 new instances of bowel cancer that occur in Britain each year are believed to be caused by these processed meats.
In the UK, the disease is also becoming more prevalent among young people; rates for individuals between the ages of 25 and 49 have increased by almost 50% since the early 1990s. Nonetheless, one of the country’s favourite snacks is still a bacon sandwich.
Preservative used in bacon… and presticides
Meat has been cured with salt for thousands of years. These days, artificial nitro-preservatives—most frequently sodium nitrite—help to significantly increase a product’s shelf life, lower the danger of food poisoning, and give the meat its pink hue.
They work well and are reasonably priced. For instance, if you look at the best-before dates on salami or bacon, you can have up to eight weeks before you need to throw it out. However, the effects of eating them on health are mostly disregarded.
Like kitchen salt, sodium nitrite is a crystalline powder. It dissolves in water and doesn’t smell. It can be injected into meat, added to processed meat mixes in powdered form, or combined with water to create a brine, or “pickle,” as it is called in the business.
To my dismay, I learnt that it is also used as a food preservative, added to car antifreeze, and used to stop tanks and pipelines from corroding. Additionally, it is a component of medications, colours, and insecticides.
According to studies, nitro-preservatives do not have the capacity to cause cancer when they are in their pure form.
However, under some circumstances, they release chemicals, specifically nitric oxide, which mix with meat to form compounds that cause cancer. These include nitrosamines and are referred to by scientists as N-nitroso compounds.
The liver breaks down nitrosamines after we digest processed meat, which can harm DNA and result in mutations that cause cancer.
They can also harm intestinal cells.
However, food producers struggle to abandon nitro-preservatives. In their absence, processed meats would get brown and lose their attractiveness.
Meat would not be allowed to sit on shelves or be transported over great distances; it would need to be sold within hours.
Get nitrate-ree meat – if you can find it
Following my diagnosis, I endured a seemingly never-ending array of difficult treatments, such as radiation, chemotherapy, and four surgeries. However, examinations every few months revealed the cancer was gradually returning.
As my options dwindled in early 2024, I was presented with a liver transplant, which is a relatively new procedure for individuals with advanced colon cancer.
I had to take the opportunity even though I knew it was extremely risky.
I was instructed to be prepared for a call from the hospital at any time of day. I so waited for six arduous months.
Then, last year, on a lovely, balmy evening, the call finally arrived. A valuable liver had been sent to my hospital via private jet from another state. Death was about to be transformed into life as a family grieved.
I was brought into surgery less than eight hours later, and I had to release my husband’s hand. I was still on a ventilator machine when they woke me up, but the physicians reported that the nine-hour procedure went well.
I no longer had cancer, and my new liver was doing well. I put my hands over my closed incision and thanked my donor and their family in silence.
Hospitalisations for infections and problems dominated the months that followed the gruelling initial recovery.
I’m really thankful to be alive and cancer-free, even if I still have some ongoing obstacles.
Needless to say, I no longer consume processed beef. I equate it with the anguish and misery of cancer, therefore the smell and even the sight of it make me physically ill.
However, neither my spouse nor my kids eat it anymore.
They initially complained loudly that they were missing their preferred pepperoni pizza. Their complaints, however, abruptly ceased when I clarified that pepperoni raises the risk of cancer.
Although it’s encouraging to see that nitrite-free goods, like Finnebrogue Naked Bacon in the UK, are increasingly showing up in stores, they still only make up a very small portion of the market.
In the end, we cannot let food firms handle this issue as eliminating nitrites is not profitable for them. Rather, it is the government’s responsibility to implement change, introduce warning labels, and conduct extensive health campaigns.
However, consumers can also contribute by consuming less meat and expressing a preference for meat that is free of chemicals. Just like free-range eggs ultimately became the norm in stores, these items won’t become the norm until then.
I’m fortunate to be alive, but hundreds of people die from colon cancer each year; processed beef is often the cause of this illness. We need to take action because the frequency of these deaths is intolerable.