Health Farm

-- Another body-blow for red meat – new research shows an association between eating red meat and breast cancer.

The news follows earlier research confirming that even moderate amounts of red and processed meat increase the risk of bowel cancer.

The breast cancer study included 42,012 women who provided health and diet data collected over seven and a half years. The biggest eaters of red eat – women in the top quartile – were 23% more likely to develop invasive cancer than those women in the bottom quartile of red meat consumption.

Substituting red meat with white turns things around. Women in the top quartile for white meat consumption were 15% less likely to develop cancer than those in the lowest quarter.

The associations were stronger for breast cancer that arose after menopause, and when the women’s total consumption of meat was held constant and white meat was substituted for red meat. In that statistical model, women with the highest ratio of white meat to red meat consumption were at a 28% reduced risk.