A new study has found that adopting a vegetarian diet may significantly lower the risk of developing five common types of cancer...READ FULL; FROM THE SOURCE.
However, the research, published in the British Journal of Cancer, also found that vegetarians have nearly double the risk of cancer of the oesophagus compared with meat eaters.
The study analysed data from more than 1.8 million people across the United States, Taiwan, India and the United Kingdom.
Researchers from the University of Oxford compared the risk of 17 different cancers across five dietary groups: meat eaters; poultry eaters (who avoid red and processed meat); pescatarians (who eat fish); vegetarians (who consume dairy and/or eggs); and vegans (who avoid all animal products).
Participants were followed for an average of 16 years, with factors that could influence cancer risk, such as body mass index and smoking, taken into account.
The cancers examined included pancreatic, breast, kidney and prostate cancer, as well as multiple myeloma, a cancer affecting plasma cells.
According to the findings, vegetarians had a 21% lower risk of pancreatic cancer, a 12% lower risk of prostate cancer, and a 9% lower risk of breast cancer compared with meat eaters.
They also recorded a 28% lower risk of kidney cancer and a 31% lower risk of multiple myeloma.
However, the study found that vegetarians had nearly double the risk of the most common type of oesophageal cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, compared with meat eaters. Researchers suggested this could be linked to possible deficiencies in key nutrients, such as B vitamins.
Vegans, on the other hand, were found to have a 40% higher risk of bowel cancer compared with meat eaters.
The team behind the study noted that further research is needed to determine whether the increased or reduced risks are directly linked to meat consumption itself, or to other specific components of vegetarian diets.
“My feeling is the differences are more likely to be related to meat itself than to simply vegetarians eating more healthy foods,” Tim Key, a co-author of the study, said.
However, Jules Griffin, director of the Rowett Institute at the University of Aberdeen, said the study did not compare vegetarian diets with a balanced diet that includes moderate meat and fish, which he suggested could be the best way to lower cancer risk.
“What is missing in this study is a comparison to a group eating the NHS Eatwell guidelines, where meat and fish consumption is in moderation, but at the same time provides important nutrients to the diet – this may be the optimum diet for reducing risk in the population for diet-associated cancer,” he said.
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