Are ready-to-eat meat and sugary drinks linked to higher colorectal cancer risk?

Ready-to-eat meats include things like deli slices, hot dogs, bacon, and sausages — foods that are often preserved with salt, nitrates, or other additives and are typically eaten without cooking at home. Sugary drinks include sodas, sweetened teas, sports drinks, and fruit punches with added sugar. The evidence we’ve reviewed suggests that higher consumption of these two types of foods is linked to increased risk, independent of how much other ultra-processed food someone eats. That means the connection isn’t just because these items are part of a generally unhealthy diet — the link appears to stand on its own.

We don’t know exactly why this connection exists. It could be related to additives, how the body processes sugar, or other biological factors. But the pattern is consistent across many observations.

What we’ve found so far doesn’t prove these foods cause cancer, but it does suggest a meaningful association that’s hard to ignore. If someone wants to lower their risk, reducing how often they eat ready-to-eat meats and sugary drinks may be a practical step — not because these foods are guaranteed to cause harm, but because the evidence we’ve reviewed leans toward a connection.