As she came to in her hospital bed, she saw a sandwich on the tray next to her, \u201cwhite bread with the cheapest, thin ham in a plastic packet. You see them everywhere, especially in hospitals and school canteens\u201d.<\/p>\n
After requesting to meet the hospital catering manager, she asked him if he knew that processed meat was linked to bowel cancer by the World Health Organization (WHO). He didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him \u2018that\u2019s why I\u2019m here\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SEI_247010239.jpg\")
Lucie Morris-Marr, mid-treatment in hospital in Australia<\/p>\n
When Lucie was 44, she had just had her first book published about child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Australia, and was set to go off on a big book tour. \u201cI was really in the prime of my life, and then I got this terrible diagnosis of stage IV bowel cancer.\u201d She had initially been misdiagnosed with diverticulosis and got a colonoscopy (and cancer diagnosis) a year after she initially reported pain.<\/p>\n
With her tour cancelled and life turned upside down, she found herself with time on her hands. And when she ran through common causes of bowel cancer, she couldn\u2019t see any clear link. She was under 50 (making this young-onset bowel cancer); had no close relatives with bowel cancer, or any genetic risk<\/a>; was not obese and ate a diet high in fibre and low in UPFs; never smoked and only drank about once a week.<\/p>\n A biopsy early after her diagnosis confirmed her cancer was \u2018KRAS wild-type\u2019, meaning there was no mutation or inherited condition to blame. And so she dug deeper into other possible links.<\/p>\n \u201cTo my horror,\u201d she writes in her new book Processed: How the Processed Meat Industry Is Killing Us with the Food We Love, \u201cI discovered that \u2013 according to many scientific studies \u2013 if you regularly eat red and processed meats, such as frankfurts [sic], bacon and salami, you are risking your health and your life. There is a strong bowel cancer link, and other suspected health impacts, particularly with processed meats.\u201d<\/p>\n While she didn\u2019t think she ate processed meats excessively, she began to wonder if the fact they were such a regular part of her diet may have been a factor in her current diagnosis. She ate them probably once a week, fed them to her kids, and loved a Christmas ham.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll never know if processed meats caused my cancer. No one can know precisely with most cancers. But as I did my reading, processed meats were mentioned more and more, and I started to really focus on it. And I got incredibly angry.\u201d<\/p>\n What are the health risks of processed meat?<\/p>\n Processed meats<\/a> are a category of animal products that have been modified through a range of methods: curing, salting, fermenting, and smoking. This spans hams, salamis, bacon, sausages and hot dogs, but can also include white and red meat that is processed for nuggets or pies. If the meat percentage is about 50 per cent or less, that means it\u2019s processed.<\/p>\n Over the years there have been several damning studies into how processed meat affects our health. <\/p>\n In 2013, the Global Burden of Disease project found that 644,000 deaths in that year (caused by heart disease, diabetes, and various cancers) could be put down to a diet high in processed meat. They state that \u201ca reduction in processed meat consumption to less than 20 grams per day per person [equivalent to one slice of ham] would prevent more than three per cent of all deaths\u201d.<\/p>\n In the UK, bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer, with the number of young-onset cases rising 50 per cent between the 1990s and 2018. \u201cIt\u2019s a shocking trend,\u201d said Dr Hyuna Sung of the American Cancer Society, who was involved in the research that found this increase.<\/p>\n In 2015, there came an even more damning publication from the WHO, whose International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) listed processed meats as \u2018carcinogenic to humans\u2019, placing them in Group 1, alongside tobacco, asbestos and radiation.<\/p>\n They concluded eating processed meats like hot dogs, sausages and bacon can cause colorectal cancer in humans, and that red meat is also a likely cause of the disease. They also linked the consumption of red meat with pancreatic and prostate cancers.<\/p>\n Crucially, it is the processing of meats in itself that can lead to the formation of harmful substances. On top of that, the chemical preservatives that are added increase their negative health impact.<\/p>\n One of the major targets of Lucie\u2019s ire in her book were those chemicals: specifically nitro-preservatives that are often used in cured meats. These preservatives (sodium or potassium nitrites\/nitrates), she explains, are a fundamental building block of the meat industry.<\/p>\n \u201cNitrates are needed in most processed meats in supermarkets \u2013 they make them pink and they stop botulism, which is serious and fatal. They also keep products shelf stable and make them last a long time \u2013 they can survive transportation and being in the supermarket and then be in the consumers\u2019 fridge for four to six weeks, perhaps even longer.\u201d<\/p>\n While nitrates themselves are not carcinogenic and can be found in plants, certain waters and in our bodies, certain conditions can cause them to transform. They give rise to free radicals that then react with meat as it\u2019s processed, leading to the production of carcinogenic compounds called N-nitroso compounds. When broken down in the liver, they can damage the DNA of our cells.<\/p>\n \u201cScientists think they can start those cancerous polyps,\u201d Lucie says, \u201cand as I found out through the book, it can also create an environment for all these other things, it\u2019s really shocking.\u201d By the end of her book she has found research that sees links between processed meats and: breast cancers<\/a>, upper GI cancers (including pancreatic, stomach and oesophagus), renal (kidney) cancers and diseases, heart disease, obesity, leukaemia, Type 2 diabetes, mental health disorders, and dementia.<\/p>\n The majority of processed meats will use nitrates, though there are a few brands available in supermarkets (like Naked and Finnebrogues in the UK) that are nitrate-free. There has been some exploration into using alternatives like celery powder, but these haven\u2019t taken off because some countries won\u2019t import them as they\u2019re unsure of the allergy risks.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the way you cook it also can make processed meats cancerous, irrespective of nitrates.<\/p>\n When meat is browned or charred, it can form potential carginogens. \u201cFried bacon contains more of the carcinogenic substances called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) than any other cooked meat,\u201d she writes. \u201cIt also contains high levels of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), another group of substances linked to cancer.\u201d The more browning on any meat, the more carcinogenic substances. Grilled or barbecued meat and fish have also been associated with a possible increased risk of stomach cancer.<\/p>\n This extends to smoking meat, too. The smoke forms HCAs as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Both are harmful and increase your cancer risk. And the impact of smoking is not reserved for meat \u2013 the production of these molecules are also found in smoked fish<\/a> and cheeses.<\/p>\n To Lucie, the evidence was damaging and its scale overwhelming. She felt a responsibility to amplify this information in the hope that she could shed light on it.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look on health and advisory pages of these charities\u2019 websites like Cancer UK for example, you\u2019ll see that they nearly all say to eliminate or reduce processed meat. But because their audience has already got cancer or they are caring for someone with cancer, it\u2019s not reaching a wider audience. Where\u2019s the government health campaign? Where\u2019s the labelling?\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s found that often, people don\u2019t want to think about processed meat in the same way we now think about cigarettes. Part of the problem, she argues, is that every country will have processed meat embedded into their culture. She has lived in Australia for the past 18 years where the \u2018sausage sizzle\u2019 is ingrained; over here in the UK, the most common snack made during the pandemic was a bacon sandwich.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SEI_246761836.jpg\")
The carcinogenic classification of processed and red meat as decided by WHO in 2015<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SEI_247008455.jpg\")
Lucie with her new book, Processed (Photo: Lauren Sadler)<\/p>\n