My daily breakfast is multigrain toast with farmers cheese and 2 oz smoked salmon, and a hard boiled egg. I am a 70 yo man.
Does smoked salmon present any of the same issues as processed meat? Because of my heavy cardio routine and low blood pressure, I actually need to add sodium to my diet so that is not an issue.
Hi Richard. In many respects, that’s a great, high-protein breakfast, which is exactly what someone in their seventies needs.
However, smoked salmon is indeed a processed meat. Because of the smoking, smoked fish can contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heterocyclic amines, nitrosamines, biogenic amines, and heavy metals. Many of these promote inflammation, and others are proven carcinogens. Levels in traditionally smoked fish often exceed EU limits.
I wouldn’t give up your salmon, but maybe consider cooking some salmon fillets yourself and using that rather than the smoked versions.
Incidentally, smoked salmon is a notable source of infection with Listeria. The risk is highest for elderly, pregnant, immunocompromised individuals. The bacteria can multiple even in the fridge.
Sorry to pour cold water on your breakfast, but at least now you can make informed choices.
Save me a plate 😄 The sodium-scale connection is also very important to be aware of. A single American submarine sandwich put me 3,000mg over my 6-month sodium average. Scale spiked the next morning of course.
One bad data point shouldn't end a fitness journey, but it does for many people.
Those who stay in this long-term aren't more disciplined. They just learned to read the signal beneath the noise.
Kale and chickpeas never taste as good as a bacon sandwich! Maybe we could explore mRNA taste receptor vaccines from herbivores, so we all crave spinach! The hares in my vegetable garden certainly seem to love it.
How about the plant-based “meats” like Beyond Burgers,
mushroom burgers, etc? While Beyond Burgers do have salt, and the Beyond Sausage does have a “sodium alginate” casing, there doesn’t appear to be anything else in the harmful list.
Ben - the AGE numbers are the part most people skip past, and they shouldn't. The jump from raw beef to a grilled frankfurter isn't a marginal increase in a dietary footnote. It's a roughly fifteen-fold amplification of compounds that drive vascular stiffness and inflammatory signalling. The fact that this happens before the food reaches a frying pan - and then accelerates further during cooking - is genuinely under-discussed in the processed meat literature, which tends to anchor on nitrosamines and cancer risk and leave the AGE-cardiovascular pathway as an afterthought.
The "uncured" labelling problem is something I've watched create real confusion in the older adults I coach. The celery powder mechanism is almost perfectly designed to exploit the naturalistic fallacy. Organic source, same downstream chemistry, meaningfully worse labelling clarity because the regulatory framework in most jurisdictions hasn't caught up with the chemistry. People feel virtuous about the switch and achieve nothing.
One thing I'd add that extends your point: the AGE burden from processed meat stacks with the AGE burden from other dietary sources and endogenous production (which accelerates with insulin resistance). For someone in their 60s with metabolic syndrome, the contribution isn't calculated in isolation. The system is already running hot. The sausage isn't the whole story; it's an addition to a total glycation load that many people in that demographic are already exceeding before they open the packet.
The modelling data on the 30% reduction is striking precisely because modest changes at the population level, as you note, compound into numbers that are hard to dismiss. The absolute individual risk from a single serving is genuinely small. The problem is that nobody eats a single serving across a lifetime. Dr Tom Kane
I don’t think advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are on many people’s radars. They’re crying out for a catchier name to stop them sounding like something only learned professors in their ivory towers care about. Or maybe we highlight the point that they contribute to wrinkles!
Processed meats are tasty, but they come with huge risks. Have them occasionally as treat, like cream cakes, but don’t make them a regular part of the diet.
The wrinkles angle is genuinely underused. AGEs cross-link collagen in skin by exactly the same mechanism they stiffen arterial walls - it's the same chemistry, just visible in one case and invisible in the other. For an audience that has already decided to live longer, the cosmetic argument occasionally lands where the cardiovascular one doesn't. Vanity as a compliance mechanism has a long and honourable history.
Loved this post esp. the alternatives to processed meats. I find myself pushing the easy button w/ the grandkids, and getting processed meats/cracker lunches, or rolling hummus into a slice of turkey…time to come up with better options. Thank you!
Thanks, Charlene! I know exactly what you mean. Nothing says easy lunch like a slice of ham in a sandwich, or midweek dinner like sausages, and that’s exactly why we eat so much processed meat.
When kids get to experiment with and enjoy a broader range of foods, they carry those (hopefully healthier) choices through their lives, with potentially huge implications for their long-term health and longevity.
It does take more time, but if you can get them involved (so it doesn’t feel like strange new foods being forced upon them), hopefully they’ll benefit long into the future.
My daily breakfast is multigrain toast with farmers cheese and 2 oz smoked salmon, and a hard boiled egg. I am a 70 yo man.
Does smoked salmon present any of the same issues as processed meat? Because of my heavy cardio routine and low blood pressure, I actually need to add sodium to my diet so that is not an issue.
Hi Richard. In many respects, that’s a great, high-protein breakfast, which is exactly what someone in their seventies needs.
However, smoked salmon is indeed a processed meat. Because of the smoking, smoked fish can contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heterocyclic amines, nitrosamines, biogenic amines, and heavy metals. Many of these promote inflammation, and others are proven carcinogens. Levels in traditionally smoked fish often exceed EU limits.
I wouldn’t give up your salmon, but maybe consider cooking some salmon fillets yourself and using that rather than the smoked versions.
Incidentally, smoked salmon is a notable source of infection with Listeria. The risk is highest for elderly, pregnant, immunocompromised individuals. The bacteria can multiple even in the fridge.
Sorry to pour cold water on your breakfast, but at least now you can make informed choices.
Save me a plate 😄 The sodium-scale connection is also very important to be aware of. A single American submarine sandwich put me 3,000mg over my 6-month sodium average. Scale spiked the next morning of course.
One bad data point shouldn't end a fitness journey, but it does for many people.
Those who stay in this long-term aren't more disciplined. They just learned to read the signal beneath the noise.
Sounds like a scary sub sandwich, Mike!
Salt and fat make everything taste better, which is why food you buy outside the home often deserves a health warning.
Sodium scary, yes, but so delicious!
Agreed.
Kale and chickpeas never taste as good as a bacon sandwich! Maybe we could explore mRNA taste receptor vaccines from herbivores, so we all crave spinach! The hares in my vegetable garden certainly seem to love it.
How about the plant-based “meats” like Beyond Burgers,
mushroom burgers, etc? While Beyond Burgers do have salt, and the Beyond Sausage does have a “sodium alginate” casing, there doesn’t appear to be anything else in the harmful list.
Ben - the AGE numbers are the part most people skip past, and they shouldn't. The jump from raw beef to a grilled frankfurter isn't a marginal increase in a dietary footnote. It's a roughly fifteen-fold amplification of compounds that drive vascular stiffness and inflammatory signalling. The fact that this happens before the food reaches a frying pan - and then accelerates further during cooking - is genuinely under-discussed in the processed meat literature, which tends to anchor on nitrosamines and cancer risk and leave the AGE-cardiovascular pathway as an afterthought.
The "uncured" labelling problem is something I've watched create real confusion in the older adults I coach. The celery powder mechanism is almost perfectly designed to exploit the naturalistic fallacy. Organic source, same downstream chemistry, meaningfully worse labelling clarity because the regulatory framework in most jurisdictions hasn't caught up with the chemistry. People feel virtuous about the switch and achieve nothing.
One thing I'd add that extends your point: the AGE burden from processed meat stacks with the AGE burden from other dietary sources and endogenous production (which accelerates with insulin resistance). For someone in their 60s with metabolic syndrome, the contribution isn't calculated in isolation. The system is already running hot. The sausage isn't the whole story; it's an addition to a total glycation load that many people in that demographic are already exceeding before they open the packet.
The modelling data on the 30% reduction is striking precisely because modest changes at the population level, as you note, compound into numbers that are hard to dismiss. The absolute individual risk from a single serving is genuinely small. The problem is that nobody eats a single serving across a lifetime. Dr Tom Kane
Thanks, Tom. You’re absolutely right.
I don’t think advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are on many people’s radars. They’re crying out for a catchier name to stop them sounding like something only learned professors in their ivory towers care about. Or maybe we highlight the point that they contribute to wrinkles!
Processed meats are tasty, but they come with huge risks. Have them occasionally as treat, like cream cakes, but don’t make them a regular part of the diet.
The wrinkles angle is genuinely underused. AGEs cross-link collagen in skin by exactly the same mechanism they stiffen arterial walls - it's the same chemistry, just visible in one case and invisible in the other. For an audience that has already decided to live longer, the cosmetic argument occasionally lands where the cardiovascular one doesn't. Vanity as a compliance mechanism has a long and honourable history.
I’ll race you to write an article about modifiable causes of wrinkes!
Wait till I get my mirror out!
Loved this post esp. the alternatives to processed meats. I find myself pushing the easy button w/ the grandkids, and getting processed meats/cracker lunches, or rolling hummus into a slice of turkey…time to come up with better options. Thank you!
Thanks, Charlene! I know exactly what you mean. Nothing says easy lunch like a slice of ham in a sandwich, or midweek dinner like sausages, and that’s exactly why we eat so much processed meat.
When kids get to experiment with and enjoy a broader range of foods, they carry those (hopefully healthier) choices through their lives, with potentially huge implications for their long-term health and longevity.
It does take more time, but if you can get them involved (so it doesn’t feel like strange new foods being forced upon them), hopefully they’ll benefit long into the future.