New study vindicates meat eaters
We reported more than a year ago on a study that claimed to show a link between consumption of red meat and various cancers, including breast and colorectal cancers. That study came from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) in collaboration with its parent institution, the World Cancer Research Fund, and was controversial because of its findings.
Now, a new study based on the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study shows no correlations between consumption of meat and postmenopausal breast cancer. Given that neither the NIH nor the AARP would appear to have a particular axe to grind regarding the safety of eating meat (or the lack thereof) this new study is particularly interesting.
Some previous studies, for example, had found a correlation between cancer and the internal temperature to which meat is cooked. Well done meat is far more likely to cause cancer than meat that is rare, according to those studies, which are cited in our previous article. Other studies have claimed a link between meat consumption and premenopausal breast cancer.
Study details
The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study followed 120,755 postmenopausal women over a period of eight years. Those women had filled out a food-frequency questionnaire upon entering the study in 1995 or 1996, which revealed details of their dietary habits. They also provided details of their meat-cooking methods within six months of entry into the program. Over the course of the eight-year follow-up, 3,818 cases of invasive breast cancer were identified among the participants.
The researchers then used statistical analysis (using a method called Cox proportional hazard models) to assess possible correlations among factors such as total meat intake; comsumption of red meat; consumption of meat cooked at high temperatures; and the production of meat mutagens (heterocyclic amines and other potential carcinogens produced during cooking) and breast cancer incidence.
No correlation found
The study authors found, in their own words, “no association with breast cancer risk.” They further went on to state that, “this large prospective study with detailed information on meat preparation methods provides no support for a role of meat mutagens in the development of postmenopausal breast cancer.”
This means the authors further ruled out the influence of meat mutagens—a much-maligned group of meat cooking by-products in cancer circles—as possible causes of breast cancer among the 120,755 postmenopausal women the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study followed.
In a nutshell, this study—published in the International Journal of Cancer by Dr. Geoffrey C. Kabat of Albert Einstein College of Medicine and colleagues—found no correlations among meat consumption, meat preparation and breast cancer in postmenopausal women.
For further discussion of the issues involved in various studies involving cancer and red meat consumption, please see our previous article entitled Possible link between red meat consumption and cancer.
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