Eat red Meat with Caution

Do you enjoy having red meat? Do you think it is good for your health? Wait till you read this. A new study has linked red meat with the development of lung cancer.

In a recent research for finding the causes of cancer, U.S. researchers have found very interesting results. They found that excessive consumption of red meat can increase the risk of lung and colorectal cancer. It also links the increased chances of liver and esophageal cancer to the red meat consumption.

Red meat constitutes all types of beef, pork and lamb. Processed meat included bacon, red meat sausage, poultry sausage, luncheon meats, cold cuts, ham and most types of hot dogs including turkey dogs.

The data was collected from a research that was conducted on almost five hundred thousand people aged 50 to 71 who took part in a diet and health study done by U.S. National Cancer Institute in conjunction with the American Association for Retired Persons. Dr. Amanda Cross and colleagues carried out this research. Out of these around 53,400 people developed the cancer.

"A decrease in the consumption of red and processed meat could reduce the incidence of cancer at multiple sites," said the report published in a Science journal. "Statistically significant elevated risks ranging from to 60 percent were evident for esophageal, colorectal, liver, and lung cancer, comparing individuals in the highest with those in the lowest quintile of red meat intake," said the researchers in their report.

Cancers are caused because of uncontrolled growth of cells in an organ or tissue. This unregulated growth either occurs due to defects in signal transduction pathways or due to mutations in the DNA which causes the senescence of the genes which control the replication of the cells. Red meat is a source of many chemicals like N-nitroso compounds (NOCs), heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which cause mutations in the DNA.

Amongst various types of cancers, the percentage cases of infection varied if smoking was taken into account. Smoking enhances the chances of cancer development. The probability of rectal cancer development was around 20% whereas for lung cancers the figure was around 16%.

Researchers said that Red meat intake was not in any way associated with gastric or bladder cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, or melanoma.

"Meat consumption in relation to cancer risk has been reported in over a hundred epidemiological studies from many countries with diverse diets," said Jeanine Genkinger of Georgetown University, Washington D.C., and Anita Koushik of the University of Montreal.

Recently one more research had shown that diabetes increased the risk of colorectal cancer. The findings of this research are in tune with the ones of the earlier research as it shows that there is an increased risk of pancreatic cancer in men who eat a lot of red meat.