Meat and Cancers: Analysis and Answers
Based on the posts “Meat and bladder cancer” and “Red meat and breast cancer” on the website
Now with added science
Edited (with Introduction)
by Dr. Don Rose, Writer, Life
Alert
--
Does meat cause
cancer? If so, is it just red meat, or are other varieties also at fault (such as
chicken)? How great is the risk? Read the article below to learn more about potential
correlations between meat and cancer -- and studies that deal with these issues.
--Don Rose
--
Bladder Cancer and Meat
Reuters picked up an
article
last year from the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition, and ran it with the headline “Bacon
tied to greater bladder cancer risk.” While the paper does show that people who
eat a lot of bacon (more than 5 servings a week) are twice as likely to get bladder
cancer as people who never eat bacon, the correlation between bacon consumption
and bladder cancer incidence was not statistically significant. People who eat chicken
without skin more than 5 times a week
also experience
an elevated risk for bladder cancer.
Nitrosamines are known bladder carcinogens
in animal models; they are present at low levels in meat, cured meats, fish, cheese
and beer. (Smokers are also exposed to high levels of nitrosamines.) Intake of the
compound from cured meats has been linked to cancers of the digestive system, like
stomach cancer.
Heterocyclic amines
are another carcinogen present in cooked meat.
The authors
examined the association between specific meat items and bladder cancer in two large
studies -- the
Health Professionals Follow-Up Study and the
Nurse’s Health
Study. Although bacon and skinless chicken consumption
were linked to bladder cancer, chicken with skin and other meats (including
processed meats, hot dogs, and
hamburgers) were
not associated
with cancer risk. The study also could not determine if it was nitrosamines, heterocyclic
amines or something else that increased cancer risk.
Breast Cancer and Red Meat
Another study was
released
in a November 2006 issue of the Archives of
Internal Medicine showing that consumption
of red meat could be correlated with the incidence of
hormone receptor–positive tumors in American pre-menopausal women, and thus may be
a risk factor for these types of breast cancer. Women who ate 1.5 servings of red
meat a day had a higher incidence of receptor-positive cancers than those who ate
three or less servings a week. The authors suggest that red meat may be associated
with hormone receptor–positive breast cancer due to (1)
known cancer-causing compounds
in cooked or processed red meat that have been shown to increase mammary tumors
in animals, (2)
hormones in the meat, or (3) the type of
iron available in red meat (which could enhance tumor formation).
While the above study may sound alarming
to women,
Cancer Research
UK
released a
press release
last year noting that “the reported increase was small,
in absolute terms.” They tried to put
the increase in perspective, stating that “according
to this study, a woman would need to eat more than one-and-a-half portions of meat
a day, every day, to significantly increase her risk of hormone-sensitive breast
cancer before the menopause. But the overall risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer
is low when compared to getting the disease after the menopause. So even at the
highest rates of meat consumption this is overall still a relatively small increase.”
The article above is covered by a
Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 2.5 License. The information provided is, to the best
of our knowledge, reliable and accurate. However, while Life Alert always strives
to provide true, precise and consistent information, we cannot guarantee 100 percent
accuracy. Readers are encouraged to review the original article, and use any resource
links provided to gather more information before drawing conclusions and making
decisions.
Dr. Don Rose writes books, papers and articles
on computers, the Internet, AI, science and technology, and issues related to seniors.
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