Smoked Salmon and Cancer Risk

[Emmmie]

I love eating processed meats, cold cuts etc., but have been avoiding these foods as they are known to increase certain cancers.

I still eat smoked salmon though. The ingredients are simply salmon and salt. No nitrites, no mention of any smoking agents.

So is smoked salmon still in the same cancer-causing category? By the way, I am aware that smoked salmon may cause a listeria poisoning and that it's rather high in salt. I am more concerned about cancer.

Thank you in advance!

This isn't something I would worry about unless you are eating it everyday. You can also buy nitrate free processed meat, I wouldn't eat frequently but nothing wrong with the occasional piece of salami. I say this as someone who is very cautious about what I eat.

I’m interested in your evidence for most cold meats increasing chances of cancer and then look to same source regarding salmon. For me this sounds like scare mungering and I would eat in moderation a healthy balanced diet!

I cold smoke a heat smoke my own salmon. There’s more than just Salmon and salt…how do you think it gets the smoked flavor?

Not an expert but afaik the cancer-causing elements are nitrites/nitrates in some meats, and I don't think salmon uses these as part of the curing or smoking process. Happy to be corrected.

By your post it appears that the issue is with you having an obsession with food health, not any intrinsic problems with any of the foods you've mentioned.

Not heard of smoked salmon giving you cancer. Read about nitrate containing processed meat and had cut down accordingly.

Meat and processed meats especially are known carcinogens. I'm not sure about fish actually.

Or you could google for reputable sources. I’m not sure about smoked salmon but the link between cold cuts and bowel cancer is well known. It’s very tiring when posters say I want to see your knowledge on things they could very easily look up themselves.

Surely there’s also…smoke?

There's no definitive evidence either way on smoked fish. It's possible that there may be some carcinogens but OTOH there are well documented positive health benefits from eating oily fish in moderation, whereas there's no health upside to eating salami or bacon (apart from its mood-enhancing qualities IMO) and a proven downside.

From what? The salmon having a smoking habit when it was alive?

How often are you consuming smoked salmon for this even to be worth a second thought?

Why do you think it’s called smoked salmon? They hang it over smoking wood to cure it.

The smokes going to have carcinogens in it.

It’s excess consumption of anything that will have any effect (if there is one) so honestly, OP, I wouldn’t worry.

The health benefits of oily fish are likely to outweigh any issues, unless you eat it daily in quantity.

The research seems to be basically ‘eh, maybe? But don’t worry’.

I’ve never heard of smoked salmon causing cancer. However salmon farming is an appalling practice both for the fish and the environment and the amount of chemicals used in maintaining the fish cannot be good for the consumer.

www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/2015/11/03/report-says-eating-processed-meat-is-carcinogenic-understanding-the-findings/

There is an increased risk yes. It's generally in the same category as processed meat.

From Google:

Epidemiological studies indicates a statistical correlation between the increased occurrence of cancer of the intestinal tract and the frequent intake of smoked foods.

its one of the few things I can eat. I have it 2 to3 times a week.

Yes. Farmed salmon is not healthy. They are crowded in pens & vast amounts of chemicals used to control the lice. Then the smoking process involves, well, smoke of some kind ...

Thank you all for your responses.

I eat smoked salmon weekly, maybe 150g per week. It is something I really enjoy.

I really wasn't scaremongering and I am certainly not obsessed about my health. I do care about my health though.
As previous posters have mentioned, a link between red and processed meats and cancer have already been established. Here is another link.

www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/diet-and-cancer/does-eating-processed-and-red-meat-cause-cancer

It makes perfect sense that smoked salmon should contain smoke, but smoke is not declared on the label. If you check the label on a smoked salmon package the ingredients listed are Salmon, salt and sugar. Maybe the smoke content is not high enough and it can be left off the label. I believe ingredients below or equal to 10 ppm can be left of the label.

Has*

I don't think smoke can be counted as an ingredient regardless of how smoked the product is. It's just a way of preparing it, not an ingredient as such.

Isn't the research on processed meat and bowel cancer specific to nitrates? I'd say if you're eating it more than two times a week it's too often for anything meat or fish based just due to a lack of gut diversity - diverse foods is what we need.

Eating the same things all the time is bad for us.

Smoke isn't an ingredient so it won't be listed of course.

If you're worried about the impact of the smoke then switch to gravlax, far superior to smoked salmon in every way and no smoke to worry about.

Family member lives on the stuff and is in their eighties!

Smoked is a method of curing not an ingredient.