Too much red meat could lead to bowel cancer

The World Health Organisation's (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is recommending that everybody should eat more fish and less meat.

A team of international scientists have at last delivered their long-awaited verdict on red meat, after a definitive study of eating habits.

The recommendation comes after the study of the eating habits of half a million people came to the conclusion that beef, lamb, pork, veal and their processed varieties such as ham and bacon, increase the risk of bowel cancer.

According to the study those who eat two portions a day, the equivalent to a bacon sandwich and a fillet steak, increase their risk of bowel cancer by 35% over those who eat just one portion a week.

The European study into cancer and nutrition (EPIC), was funded by the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK and IARC.

The study monitored the diets of men and women in 10 countries for five years, and found that eating fibre, in the form of vegetables, fruit and wholegrain cereals, lessened the risk of meat eating and that a diet which contained fish least every other day, was protective.

Sheila Bingham, one of the authors, from the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit in Cambridge, says it has long been suspected that high levels of red and processed meat increase the risk of bowel cancer. She says the study is one of the largest studies worldwide and the first from Europe to show the strong relationship.

According to the British Nutrition Foundation those in the high-risk group were eating more than 160g of meat a day. An average fillet steak weighs about 140g and an average burger about 100g. The smallest chipolata sausages weigh about 20g each, but premium sausages are around 40g.

British Meat estimate that the average Briton eats 93g of meat a day, and see no reason for most people to change their habits. A spokesman said you are not going to get cancer because you eat meat.

The study, found that the risks of eating red meat were less in people who ate a lot of fibre from vegetables, fruit and wholegrain cereals. Eating any sort of fish on a regular basis, had a protective effect, reducing the bowel cancer risk by 30% over those who ate fish less than once a week.

Professor Bingham says it is the way we now eat meat that is the problem, and even though man has been eating red meat for thousands of years, meat used to be the relish and still is in Mediterranean countries, and the bulk of the meal comes from the other things like carbohydrates and vegetables.

Traditional British fare, such as steak and chips, bacon and eggs and roast meats without much in the way of vegetables, is part of the problem.

Meat when eaten in stews and casseroles, is a smaller portion size , and is mixed with vegetables which provide helpful fibre.

Results from the ongoing European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) study appear in the June 14 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.