Bacon Can ‘Increase Longevity’, Food Study Says

Courtesy of cookbookman17 via Flickr

According to a study conducted in Switzerland by researchers at ETH Zurich, consuming bacon could be linked with a longer lifespan. It turns out that bacon contains vitamin, B3 (also known as niacin), that previously had been thought to “promote the formation of ‘free radicals,’ causing faster aging.” But the findings of the study suggest that, niacin “tricks the body into believing that it is exercising.”

Methodology: “To test this, Energy Metabolism Professor Michael Ristow fed roundworms a dose of niacin, discovering that they lived one-tenth longer than those who went without.”

But don’t swap your gym clothes for the Applewood smoked just yet, bacon is still associated with diabetes, weight gain, and heart disease.

Inspired to cure your own bacon? Here’s a recipe from Michael Ruhlman’s Charcuterie.