Wikimedia Commons/ Renee Comet
Last week, the journal BMC Medicine published a report confirming what just about everybody has suspected for quite some time: that eating too many processed foods, including ham, bacon, and sausages, will lead to a shorter life span, brought on by cardiovascular disease and cancer. The main connections are the high fat and sodium content usually present in these foods, as well as the presence of carcinogenic compounds in all the preservatives and nitrates. But exactly how much processed meat eaten per day does it take to shorten your life span? The study claimed that 160 grams should be the limit, but Business Insider took it one step further and actually converted that measurement into real-life applications.
One hundred-sixty grams, they calculated, equals out to about 5.6 ounces, or .35 pounds. When it comes to cooked bacon, 5.6 ounces of the stuff would need to come from about 1.4 pounds of uncooked bacon, which equals out to about a package and half of bacon, per day. As for hot dogs, though, hitting the daily quota might not be too difficult if you’re a big fan of the tube steak (or a professional eater). A Ballpark Classic hot dog weighs in at 57 grams, so your lunch would need to involve a bite short of three hot dogs to hit your limit.
That’s a lot of bacon-wrapped hot dogs to eat on a daily basis, if you ask us.