Cancer caused some 10 million deaths worldwide in 2020, becoming one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Many studies indicate that diet could be a key element in the development of this disease, and in particular red and processed meat have been pointed out as the main foods to avoid to prevent it. Now a study shows that without meat in the usual diet or limiting its consumption to five or fewer times a week could reduce the risk of developing cancer.
The research has been carried out by members of the Oxford Population Health Cancer Epidemiology Unit (CEU), who gathered data from more than 472,000 people between the ages of 40 and 69 in the United Kingdom, which they used to relate the characteristics of their diet with cancer risk for an average of 11 years. Depending on the type of diet, four groups were established: habitual carnivores (meat more than five times a week), low carnivores (five or fewer meals a week), pescetarians (they do not eat meat, but do eat fish) and vegetarians (neither meat or fish in the diet).
The results, released in the journal BMC Medicine, indicated that there were 54,961 cancer diagnoses, of which 9,501 were prostate, 7,537 postmenopausal breast and 5,882 colorectal, among others. The evidence showed that individuals who ate little meat had a 2% lower risk of cancer than those who ate this food regularly.
“Our study found that being a bit of a meat eater, pescetarian, or vegetarian was associated with a significantly lower risk of all types of cancer.”
That percentage was 10% less in pescetarians and up to 14% less in the case of vegetarians. This means that the reduction in cancer diagnoses for the vegetarian group was 13 fewer per 1,000 people over 10 years, compared to regular meat eaters. The risk of prostate cancer was significantly reduced in both vegetarians (31% less than usual carnivores) and pescetarians.
Up to 43% lower risk of colorectal cancer in vegetarians
In addition, postmenopausal breast cancer was reduced by 18% in vegetarians, compared to regular meat eaters. However, additional analyzes indicated that most of this drop in cancer risk was due to vegetarians having a lower average body mass compared to regular meat eaters.
Postmenopausal breast cancer was reduced by 18% in vegetarians, but it could be because their body mass index was lower than that of carnivores
In men, the risk of colorectal cancer was found to be lower if they ate little meat (11% less), if they were pescetarians (31% less) or if they were vegetarians (43%). However, no apparent difference in risk was reported for women with either of these feeding groups.
As they explain from the university, the authors found no significant evidence that these results were driven by differences in testosterone and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), two hormones that have been linked to the development of cancer, although IGF-1 levels were found to be slightly lower in vegetarians.
“Our study found that being a bit of a meat eater, pescetarian, or vegetarian was associated with a significantly lower risk of all types of cancer. But it is not yet clear whether these differences are due to dietary factors or non-dietary effects, as differences in the use of health services, including cancer screening, may also have influenced our findings. Future research evaluating cancer risk in cohorts with larger numbers of vegetarians is needed to further explore potential explanations for these observed differences,” said Cody Watling, lead researcher.
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