Umbrella review associates processed meat consumption with higher risks of cancer and chronic disease outcomes
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Key Takeaway
Interpret findings on processed meat and cancer risk cautiously due to low certainty evidence.
This publication is an umbrella review synthesizing evidence from 34 articles and 54 meta-analyses. The scope encompasses conditions including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, all-cause mortality, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in relation to processed meat consumption. The review covers multiple chronic disease endpoints.
The authors report associations between processed meat intake and increased risks for specific outcomes. Results indicate a 72% higher risk for gastric cancer, a 17% higher risk for colorectal cancer, a 4% higher risk for prostate cancer, and an 8% higher risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Authors note significant limitations regarding the quality of the underlying data. The certainty of evidence for most outcomes is rated as low or very low by the GRADE system. Associations are based on low to very low certainty evidence, and the study does not establish causality. These limitations suggest findings should be interpreted with caution.
Regarding practice relevance, the authors state that no level of processed meat intake can be confidently considered safe for the prevention of chronic diseases such as colorectal cancer. Clinicians should interpret these findings cautiously given the low certainty evidence and avoid overstating associations between processed meat consumption and various health outcomes. Population details were not reported in the source material.
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View Original Abstract ↓
ObjectiveThis study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses, systematically summarizing the current evidence on the topic and exploring the relationship between processed meat (PM) consumption and various health outcomes.MethodsA systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases for systematic reviews and meta-analyses examining the relationship between PM consumption and health outcomes from the inception of each database until May 2025. This is a descriptive umbrella review that summarizes existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses without conducting further quantitative re-analysis of summary estimates using random- or fixed-effects models or prediction intervals. A total of 34 articles and 54 meta-analyses were included in the review. Use the validated AMSTAR2 tool to assess the methodological quality of studies included in the meta-analysis, and use GRADE to assign the level of evidence quality.ResultsThe key dose-response results reported below were selected based on their high public health relevance and stable effect estimates across the included meta-analyses. Consumption of PM was found to be associated with higher risks of various cancers, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, and all-cause mortality. Dose-response analysis revealed that an increase in PM consumption of 50 g/day was associated with a 72% higher risk of gastric cancer, 17% higher risk of colorectal cancer, 4% higher risk of prostate cancer, and an 8% higher risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). All the above dose-response associations are based on low to very low certainty evidence as assessed by the GRADE system.ConclusionMost studies suggest that PM consumption is associated with diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic disorders, but the certainty of evidence for most outcomes is rated as low or very low by the GRADE system. Based on the report from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (WHO-IARC) and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), no level of PM intake can be confidently considered safe for the prevention of chronic diseases such as colorectal cancer. Future research should include more well-designed prospective studies and randomized controlled trials to further explore the associations between PM consumption and various health outcomes.
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