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Meat and colo-rectal cancer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2007

Michael J. Hill
Michael J. Hill*
Affiliation:
Lady Sobell Gastrointestinal Unit, Wexham Park Hospital, Slough SL2 4HL, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Dr Michael J. Hill, fax +44 (0)1256 880416
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Abstract

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In early epidemiological studies of diet and cancer the stress was on the search for causal factors. Population (ecological) studies tended to show a strong correlation between meat intake, particularly red meat, and the risk of colo-rectal cancer. They also tended to show meat to be strongly inversely correlated with cancers of the stomach and oesophagus and liver. Early case- control studies tended to support the postulated role for red meat in colo-rectal carcinogenesis, although more recent case-control studies, particularly those from Europe, have tended to show no relationship. The cohort studies in general failed to detect any relationship between meat intake and colo-rectal cancer risk. The available evidence points to the intake of protective factors such as vegetables and whole-grain cereals being the main determinants of colo-rectal cancer risk, with meat intake only coincidentally related.

Keywords

Colo-rectal cancerMeat intakeEpidemiological studies
Type
Meat or wheat for the next millennium? A Debate Pro meat
Information
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , May 1999 , pp. 261 - 264
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1999

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