There has been a long discussion on whether eating meat aggravates cancer, and a new study has shed some light. According to a study, eating meat five times or less per week is associated with lower overall cancer risk. Cody Watling and colleagues from the University of Oxford, UK investigated the relationship between diet and cancer risk by analysing data collected from 472,377 British adults who were recruited to the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010.
Participants who were aged between 40 and 70 years reported how frequently they ate meat and fish and the researchers calculated the incidence of new cancers that developed over an average period of 11 years. They accounted for diabetes status and sociodemographic, socioeconomic and lifestyle factors in their analyses. Fifty two per cent of participants ate meat more than five times per week, 44 per cent ate meat five or fewer times per week, 2 per cent)ate fish but not meat and 2 per cent were vegetarian or vegan. Twelve per cent developed cancer during the study period.
The researchers found that the overall cancer risk was two per cent lower among those who ate meat five times or less per week, 10 per cent lower among those who ate fish but not meat, and 14 per cent lower among vegetarians and vegans, compared to those who ate meat more than five times per week.
The authors of the study found that those who ate meat five times or less per week had a nine per cent lower risk of colorectal cancer, compared to those who ate meat more than five times per week. They also found that the risk of prostate cancer was 20 per cent lower among men who ate fish but not meat and 31 per cent lower among men who followed a vegetarian diet, compared to those who ate meat more than five times per week.
