Eating meat helps in cancer growth, says Oxford research

A recent research by Oxford University shows that eating non-vegetarian food plays a significant role in a person's cancer aggravation. The findings have again sparked a debate on whether eating meat is good or bad for health. As per a new large-scale study, co-funded by World Cancer Research Fund and Cancer Research UK, it was found that following a vegetarian or vegan diet is associated with the lowest risk of developing cancer when compared to eating meat, including fish.

The researchers at the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford set out with an aim to assess the associations of vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets with risks of all cancer, colorectal cancer, postmenopausal breast cancer, and prostate cancer and to explore the role of potential mediators between these associations.

The Oxford-based team investigated the relationship between diet and cancer risk by analyzing data from over 472,000 British adults collected from the UK Biobank between 2006 and 2010. The participants were free from cancer at recruitment.

Based on dietary questions completed at recruitment, participants were categorised into:

Group 1: Regular meat eaters (those who ate meat more than five times a week)

Group 2: Low amount of meat consumers (those who ate meat five times or less per week)

Group 3: Pescatarians (those who ate fish and plant-based food)

Group 4: Vegetarians (diets free of all meat)

After an average follow-up of 11.4 years, 54,961 incident cancers were identified, including 5882 colorectal, 7537 postmenopausal breast, and 9501 prostate cancers.

Compared with regular meat-eaters, being a low meat-eater, fish-eater, or vegetarian were all associated with a lower risk of all cancer.

Being a low meat-eater was associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer in comparison to regular meat-eaters.

Vegetarian postmenopausal women had a lower risk of breast cancer but the ones who were overweight or obese had no such advantage despite being vegetarian. That clearly means BMI has a role to play in the development of cancer.

In men, being a fish-eater or a vegetarian was associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer. However, other factors such as smoking and body mass index may also play a part.

From the study's findings, it can be derived that specific dietary behaviour, such as reduced meat consumption or following a vegetarian diet, can help reduce the risk of certain cancers. Health experts have time and again reiterated that limiting the intake of red and processed meat and eating more whole foods such as fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and pulses is beneficial to health and increases one's chances of leading a disease-free life.

Meanwhile, the West has researched WHY Indians have the lowest level of cancer cases in the world and FOUND that it's the food that our ancestors prescribed and we ate that is the key reason for our health.

In his article titled "Why are Cancer Rates so Low in India?" Dr Michael Herschel Greger observes: "Population-based data indicate that some extremely common cancers in the Western world are much less prevalent in regions where turmeric is widely consumed in the diet.

Inputs from ANI