A major European research study has pointed to evidence of a link between high consumption of red and processed meat and bowel cancer.
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The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) studied the diet of more than 500,000 people in Europe over ten years and found that the risk of bowel cancer was a third higher for those who regularly ate more than two 80g portions of red or processed meat per day, compared to those who ate less than one per week, reported BBC News Online.
The EPIC research, which has been reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, also found that eating a low fibre diet also increased the risk of bowel cancer. Eating poultry was found to have no impact on bowel cancer risk, while those who ate one or more portions of fish every other day were at lower risk than those who ate less than one portion of fish per week.
“People have suspected for some time that high levels of red and processed meat increase 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,” head researcher Professor Sheila Bingham was quoted by the BBC as saying.
For the purpose of the research, red meat was defined as beef, lamb, pork and veal. Processed meat was defined as mostly pork and beef preserved by methods other than freezing, including ham, bacon, sausages, liver pate, salami, tinned meat, luncheon meat and corned beef.
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By GlobalData
