In a new study from the University of Oxford, researchers found eating meat five times or less per week is associated with lower overall cancer risk.
They examined the link between diet and cancer risk by analyzing 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 using health records.
They accounted for diabetes status and sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and lifestyle factors in their analyses.
The researchers found that the overall cancer risk was 2% lower among those who ate meat five times or less per week, 10% lower among those who ate fish but not meat, and 14% lower among vegetarians and vegans, compared to those who ate meat more than five times per week.
They also found that those who ate meat five times or less per week had a 9% 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% lower among men who ate fish but not meat and 31% lower among men who followed a vegetarian diet, compared to those who ate meat more than five times per week.
Older women who followed a vegetarian diet had an 18% lower risk of breast cancer than those who ate meat more than five times per week.
However, the findings suggest that this was due to vegetarian women tending to have a lower body mass index (BMI) than women who ate meat.
The authors suggest that future research could check the links between diets containing little or no meat and the risk of individual cancers in larger populations with longer follow-up periods.
If you care about cancer risk, please read studies about daily food directly linked to cancer risk, and daily beverage that may lower prostate cancer risk.
For more information about cancer risk, please see recent studies about common vegetable that may help lower your cancer risk, and results showing that most cancers are caused by these 5 things.
The study is published in BMC Medicine and was conducted by Cody Watling et al.
Copyright © 2022 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
