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The vegetarian diet is not just a fad. Praised by certain professionals, its benefits are also the subject of numerous scientific and epidemiological research. Cody Watling’s team, from the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford, UK, come up with additional findings consistent with reduced cancer risk in those who eat little meat .
Analyze the relationship between diet and cancer risk
The experts wanted to obtain evidence that being vegetarian or consuming fish rather than meat had a real impact on the occurrence of specific cancers, such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer after menopause and prostate cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer of the colon and rectum is the third most common cancer in men and the second in women. Prostate cancer is one of the most common, while breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
To carry out their research, the specialists collected and analyzed data from 472,377 British adults between the ages of 40 and 70. The latter were recruited by the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010. Certain information was taken into consideration for the assessment, such as the presence of diabetes, lifestyle and socio-demographic factors.
Among the attendees:
- 52% ate meat more than five times a week;
- 44% ate meat five times or less per week;
- 2% ate fish, but no meat;
- 2% were vegetarians (consumption of animal flesh excluded) or vegans (exclusion of any food of animal origin, such as meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, etc.).
Reduced overall cancer risk
The results, published in the medical journal BMC Medicine, are quite revealing. Indeed, compared to people who ate meat more than five times a week, the overall cancer risk was:
- 2% lower in people who ate meat five times or less per week;
- 10% lower in fish (no meat) eaters;
- 14% lower among vegetarians and vegans.
A lower risk of colorectal cancer
For colorectal cancer, people who ate meat five times or less per week had a 9% lower risk than those who ate more than five times.
Reduced risk of prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women
A similar, but stronger, finding was observed for other specific types of cancer. For example, comparative data showed that the risk of prostate cancer was 20% lower in men who ate fish (meat excluded) and 31% in vegetarians, again compared to those who ate meat. more than five times a week.
The impact of a diet based on animal meat is also visible in women. After menopause, vegetarian women had an 18% lower risk of breast cancer than meat eaters more than five times a week. Nevertheless, it seems that a criterion must be taken into consideration in this rate, that of the Body Mass Index (BMI), which was lower than that of women who eat meat regularly.
The results of this study, however, require more evidence, as many other factors must be considered to confirm these numbers. However, these observations still suggest that high meat consumption has a negative impact on health.