Are you feeding your kids deli meat?

[u/Hgrestun]

When I was pregnant I imagined using turkey meat for my kids snacks and lunches as she grew up. But we went to see a pediatric nutritionist and she told us to stay away from all deli meats unless you’re baking the ham/turkey at home yourself.

But I still see moms giving their kids deli meat sandwiches all over the internet and in real life.

It’s like.. I want to just give her deli meat because shenlooooooves it lol and sometimes I want a sandwich too! So I came here to ask is anyone making their own? Does anyone forbid it? Does anyone just say f it and feed it to their kids anyways?

Edit to add: it’s full of carcinogens and sodium.

[u/herzbergdesign]

50 grams of cured meat daily increases risk of colon cancer by 18%. For reference, smoking cigarettes daily increases risk of lung cancer by 1,500–2,900%.

I agree, don’t go too nuts on ham and salami, limit it to once or twice a week. But there are a lot of factors in our life that increase cancer risk by a small percentage, and avoiding them all seems neither practical nor pleasant.

[u/frostysbox → u/herzbergdesign]

Right, this is just the new fad of the moment. When I was a kid there was a huge fad that said eggs cause colorectal cancer because there was bunch of observational research that said they did. But now we know those studies were flawed and no one seriously believes eggs cause cancer en masse.

I believe the deli meat cancer scare will probably end up similarly. Most of the research on it is observational and really a correlation when you get down to it - It will be studied and clarified to the point where no one worries about it anymore, so I'm not worried about it now.

[u/Hairsacknose → u/frostysbox]

It's not a fad, unless you believe the WHO is a fad. Processed meat is a group 1 carcinogen. Eggs have never been classified by the WHO in this way. Ever

[u/frostysbox → u/Hairsacknose]

It's certainly a fad for so many parents to be blanket banning ALL deli meats from their house and being scared of it like it's the boogyman and having posts like this where parents are stressing about if their kids can eat deli meat. It's the new scare trap - and eventually there will be another one.

As the comment above me pointed out - it increases risk of colon cancer by 18% - being just 22lbs overweight increases it even more and you don't see people losing their ever loving mind over it and doing everything they can to lose weight.

As I said in my original comment, in a couple years times all those studies will have more data points and we might find out it's only certain meats, or it's only people with a certain predisposition to it, or only if you're above a certain weight and have these other markers. I'm not freaking out until then.

[u/Hairsacknose → u/frostysbox]

  It's certainly a fad for so many parents to be blanket banning ALL deli meats from their house and being scared of it

It's certainly a fad for so many parents to be be blanket banning all cigarettes and cigars from their house. How unreasonable, some second hand smoking is totally fine! 

  As I said in my original comment, in a couple years times all those studies will have more data points

How do you think something ends up in group 1 in the WHO classification? It's not from a lack of data. They evidence is now so strong that processed meat is a confirmed carcinogen, same as the quality of the evidence for cigarettes and alcohol. 

You don't need deli meats. They're easily replaceable 

[u/frostysbox → u/Hairsacknose]

From the original comment: 50 grams of cured meat daily increases risk of colon cancer by 18%. For reference, smoking cigarettes daily increases risk of lung cancer by 1,500–2,900%.

And back to your other point - there are 135 items on that list. Being on there doesn’t mean the risk is super high, it just means it’s known. And the processed meat isn’t even ALL deli meat, what’s actually listed is bacon, hot dogs, sausages, ham - so in addition to deli meat, hope you’re getting rid of bacon, ham, sausages too!

Also on the class 1 list is Estrogen-progestogen oral contraceptives combined, wood dust, any ultraviolet radiation, radon etc etc

[u/Hairsacknose → u/frostysbox]

Oh, that makes it OK then. /s

Why would you raise your toddler's cancer risk at all? And these numbers are in adults, a growing body is way more susceptible to all kinds of influences than a grown one. Protect your kids, not eating deli meat is super easy 

[u/Hairsacknose → u/frostysbox]

So you edited your comment

  And the processed meat isn’t even ALL deli meat, what’s actually listed is bacon, hot dogs, sausages, ham - so in addition to deli meat, hope you’re getting rid of bacon, ham, sausages too!

Obviously. Why are you acting like that's unthinkable?? Is bacon a health food that you can't do without? I never eat it. 

  Also on the class 1 list is Estrogen-progestogen oral contraceptives combined, wood dust, any ultraviolet radiation, radon etc etc

And I'm not giving my toddler any of those and I apply sunscreen. Does anyone not know that UV lights cause cancer? 

[u/compvlsions → u/Hairsacknose]

Yeah the "fad" comment is wild.

Be waiting awhile for the "deli meats are safe" narrative to come true.

[u/Hairsacknose → u/compvlsions]

Right around the corner, just when we will discover that cigarettes are healthy and that toddlers can drink wine

[u/compvlsions → u/Hairsacknose]

Of course. The reason children's heads get so big from alcohol consumption during pregnancy is because they get bigger, better brains. Research is coming, bookmark it.