Red meat and alcohol 'raise the risk of cancer'

[Al-khiyal]

Red meat link to breast cancers

Alcohol a cancer risk for women

October 28, 2007 -- Eating red meat and drinking alcohol in even small quantities increases the risk of developing cancer, a group of world renowned scientists will warn this week.

People should minimise their consumption of both in order to safeguard their health, the biggest inquiry ever undertaken into lifestyle and cancer will recommend.

In addition, the millions of people who are now obese are running as great a risk of getting cancer as smokers do, a major global report by the World Cancer Research Fund will also warn.

The findings from a panel of 21 experts in diet, nutrition and public health will reopen the controversy about the role that red meat such as beef, pork and lamb and alcoholic drinks play in causing cancer, and how much it is safe to consume. The livestock and drink industries are likely to object fiercely to the report. But the experts, who have spent five years producing the document, insist their recommendations are based on the most up-to-date, accurate and credible scientific and medical research evidence available worldwide.

'The bad guys in terms of increasing your chances of getting cancer are alcohol, meat consumption and being seriously overweight,' said one senior figure behind the report. 'There's plenty of evidence showing that clearly meat is linked to cancer. Huge numbers of studies have shown that. Alcohol also increases your risk of cancer. Any alcohol above zero increases your risk of developing breast cancer and other cancers.'

The report will set out 10 detailed recommendations which the scientists believe are a definitive blueprint for how those seeking to avoid cancer should live. The 10 will cover: body fatness; physical activity; foods and drinks that promote weight gain; plant foods, notably fruit and vegetables; animal foods, particularly meat; alcoholic drinks; the preservation, processing and preparation of food; dietary supplements; lactation and breastfeeding; and cancer survivors.

One of the panel, Professor David Shuker, of the Open University, said: 'We know that red meat increases your risk of bowel cancer. We might say that it's just like cigarette smoking. So if you are concerned about bowel cancer you would come to the conclusion, supported by the evidence, that one should reduce one's consumption of red meat.'

Research showed that eating as little as 100g of red meat a day increases the risk of developing cancer, Shuker said. But the WCRF is likely to reaffirm this week that it believes people should consume as little as 80g per day for health reasons. The Food Standards Agency does not specify a 'safe' figure for meat-eating. But a spokeswoman said its view was that people should 'eat meat in moderation and choose leaner cuts'.

The report is also likely to say that men should have no more than two drinks per day, and women just one, if they want to reduce their cancer risk, in line with the government's advice on safe drinking limits.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot, chair of the expert panel, told The Observer last night that diet was a factor in one third of all cancer cases: 'People are suffering and dying because they get cancer from being obese.'

Red meat and alcohol 'raise the risk of cancer'

[Bent_Bladi]

are they talking about red meat, like bloody raw meat that muslims shouldn't eat... or the meat that's just darker than the white one?

[Al-khiyal]

It looks very much like they are talking about all red meat.

[Bent_Bladi]

shoot... does that include camel meat...


NOOOOOOO!!!!

[Al-khiyal]

Meat increases lung cancer risk

Washington, December 11, 2007 -- People who eat a lot of red meat and processed meats have a higher risk of several types of cancer, including lung cancer and colorectal cancer, US researchers say.

The work is the first big study to show a link between meat and lung cancer.

It also shows that people who eat a lot of meat have a higher risk of liver and esophageal cancer and that men raise their risk of pancreatic cancer by eating red meat.

"A decrease in the consumption of red and processed meat could reduce the incidence of cancer at multiple sites," Dr Amanda Cross and colleagues at the US National Cancer Institute wrote in their report, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

The researchers studied 500,000 people aged 50 to 71 who took part in a diet and health study done in conjunction with the AARP, formerly the American Association for Retired Persons.

After eight years, 53,396 cases of cancer were diagnosed.

"Statistically significant elevated risks (ranging from 20 per cent to 60 per cent) were evident for esophageal, colorectal, liver, and lung cancer, comparing individuals in the highest with those in the lowest quintile of red meat intake," the researchers wrote.

The people in the top 20 per cent of eating processed meat had a 20 per cent higher risk of colorectal cancer - mostly rectal cancer - and a 16 per cent higher risk for lung cancer.

"Furthermore, red meat intake was associated with an elevated risk for cancers of the esophagus and liver," the researchers wrote.

These differences held even when smoking was accounted for.

"Red meat intake was not associated with gastric or bladder cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, or melanoma," the researchers said.

Red meat was defined as all types of beef, pork and lamb.

Processed meat included bacon, red meat sausage, poultry sausage, luncheon meats, cold cuts, ham and most types of hot dogs.

Meats can cause cancer by several routes, the researchers wrote.

"For example, they are both sources of saturated fat and iron, which have independently been associated with carcinogenesis," the researchers wrote.

Meat is also a source of several chemicals known to cause DNA mutations, including N-nitroso compounds (NOCs), heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Jeanine Genkinger of Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and Anita Koushik of the University of Montreal in Canada said the findings fitted in with other research.

"Meat consumption in relation to cancer risk has been reported in over a hundred epidemiological studies from many countries with diverse diets," they wrote in a commentary.

In November, news that bacon was linked to cancer sparked a backlash among bacon fans.