That's the judgment of a panel of global experts panel of global experts assembled by the World Health Organization to consider the accumulated scientific evidence on the question. Eating an extra 50 grams daily of processed meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18 percent, the WHO said today. While the overall risk is small, it "increases with the amount of meat consumed," the organization said. But what does it mean to say processed meat causes cancer?

We've all grown wary of headlines that proclaim wine or chocolate to be bad for you one week and good for you the next. The World Health Organization's announcement is the opposite of that. Independent scientists from academia and government academia and government considered the research on red meat for six months before meeting for a week in Lyon, France, to render a decision. The panel included researchers from four continents who were vetted for potential conflicts of interest. They gathered and evaluated evidence from years of epidemiological studies, animal experiments, and other sources.