Diet and colorectal cancer
International journal of epidemiology

Red meat: the most controversial food in nutrition that happens to be a top-shelf provider of iron, B-vitamins, creatine, carnosine, and, if you spring for grass-fed, omega-3s. Speaking of nutritious beef, when we talk about the health effects of meat, it's important to realize that not all meat is created equal (and the filler at McDonald's shouldn't even be called meat). This study failed to recognize that.

The study

Colorectal cancer has a reputation as the number two killing cancer for men, which is scary because it's often asymptomatic as it progresses. The symptoms aren't pretty either. I'd like to know if we can prevent that, and also get our burger fix.

This research looked at self-reported diet info from over 475k Brits to see if diet is correlated with colorectal cancer.

The questions in the recall asked about the frequency of consumption of processed meat, poultry, beef, lamb, pork, oily fish, non-oily fish, fresh fruit, dried fruit, raw vegetables, cooked vegetables, cheese, tea and coffee. A subset of 18 questions got to the bottom of their alcohol consumption as well.

Next, researchers looked at the diet of the 2,609 cases of colorectal cancer that occurred in the 5 year period and compared their diet with the non-cancer participants.

Results

The participants who ate an average of 76g of red or processed meat per day (I'd imagine meat in multiple meals), had a 20% increased risk of bowel cancer compared with those who averaged 21g a day. This risk increased as the amount of meat increased, too.

In addition, drinking alcohol had an increased risk up to 24% among those who drank the most beer.

Eating fiber, specifically in the form of breakfast cereals and bread, had a protective effect.

The study also notes, albeit in passing, that the participants eating the most red and processed meat were "slightly older, more likely to be smokers, had a higher BMI and body-fat percentage, had a higher alcohol intake and had lower intakes of fruit, vegetables and fiber." Could that explain the increased risk of cancer? Definitely. Does that make for conflicting results? Yes.

Scientist says…

“The main message for the public is that it reinforces the government advice that we shouldn’t eat large amounts of red and processed meat," said Prof Tim Key, who co-authored the study and is also deputy director at the University of Oxford’s cancer epidemiology unit.

"Alcohol, on the other hand, increased bowel cancer risk and did not have nutritional benefits. Alcohol is an optional thing that we don’t have to consume,” Key added.


Takeaway
This research presents some interesting findings, namely the connection of processed meat, beer, and "red meat" with colorectal cancer. Ultimately a study like this leaves the inquisitive health conscious person with still more questions, and objections to the claim that all red meat is all the same. That said, it's still a good idea to eat less than 76g of red meat per day. And it's still not looking good for processed meat and beer.