The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Red meat diet linked to cancer

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Thursday, Jun 16, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Red meat diet linked to cancer

Sarah Boseley

A study has found that red meat increases therisk of bowel cancer.

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTISTS on Tuesday delivered a long-awaited verdict on red meat, concluding in a definitive study of the eating habits of half a million people that beef, lamb, pork, veal and their processed varieties such as ham and bacon, increase the risk of bowel cancer.

Those who eat two portions a day — equivalent to a bacon sandwich and a fillet steak - increase their risk of bowel cancer by 35 per cent over those who eat just one portion a week, the study found. The World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) called for everybody to eat more fish and less meat.

The Medical Research Council, Cancer Research U.K. and the IARC funded the European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition (Epic) study, which monitored the diets of men and women in 10 countries for five years. It found that eating fibre, in the form of vegetables, fruit and wholegrain cereals, lessened the risk of meat eating and that fish, eaten at least every other day, was protective.

"People have suspected for some time that high levels of red and processed meat increase the risk of bowel cancer, but this is one of the largest studies worldwide and the first from Europe of this type to show a strong relationship," said Sheila Bingham, one of the authors, from the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit in Cambridge. "The overall picture is very consistent for red and processed meat and fibre across all the European populations studied."

Those in the high-risk group were eating more than 160 gm of meat a day. An average fillet steak weighs about 140 gm and an average burger about 100 gm. The smallest chipolata sausages weigh about 20 gm each, but premium sausages are around 40 gm, according to the British Nutrition Foundation. The average Briton eats 93 gm of meat a day, according to British Meat, which claimed there was no reason for most people to change their habits. "If you eat meat, you are not going to get cancer," said a spokesman.

The Epic study, published last night in the Journal of the International Cancer Institute, found that the risks of eating red meat were less in people who ate a lot of fibre from vegetables, fruit and wholegrain cereals. Eating any sort of fish on a regular basis — at least 80g every other day — had a protective effect, reducing the bowel cancer risk by 30 per cent over those who ate fish less than once a week.

Although man has been eating red meat for thousands of years, it is the way in which we now eat it that could be the problem.

"Meat used to be the relish and still is in Mediterranean countries. It is a treat. The bulk of the meal comes from the other things like carbohydrates and vegetables," said Professor Bingham.

When eaten in stews and casseroles, the portion sizes tend not to be so large, and the meat is mixed with vegetables which provide helpful fibre. But plain British fare, such as steak and chips, bacon and eggs and roast meats without much in the way of vegetables, could be more problematic.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

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