If you have read some media sources recently, you must have come across the recent health news that eating red meat can cause cancer. Worry not if you have yet read through this article for here I present to you all the recent scoop on the research findings on red meat and cancer risk. So read on and know more...

American Cancer Society (ACS) researchers very recently provided reports on ten years of dietary as well as medical data from over 150,000 people who were of the age group of 30- 50. The analysis provided a report on meat eating and its relation with colorectal cancer.

As per the reports of ACS team, here are some of the results.

• People who consumed large amount of meat over a period of 10 years had a very high risk of colon cancer – as high as 30% more than those who did not eat red meat.
• Meat lovers who consumed more of PROCESSED meat have more risk of colon cancer. They are at 50% more risk.
• Those who had fish and poultry in the long run have lower risk of colorectal cancer.
• Colorectal cancer risk from processed meat or due to eating red on a regular basis is slightly lower than that which is associated with obesity.

This research was carried on people who had pork, lamb as well as beef as red meat. Processed meats included hot dogs, cold cuts, ham and sausages. It was obvious from the results that eating red meat is not the cause of colorectal cancer. However, fatty meat or rich iron content which is usually found in processed meat is said to be the cause of colorectal cancer. Nitrates which are often used as preservatives or the method which is used in cooking meat is often responsible for cancer and not red meat alone.

Hormones are also known to be a reason for cancer. As per Organic Consumers Association in the US nearly 2/3 of the cattle which is produced in US are treated with some growth hormones which is allowed by US Department of Agriculture and US Food and Drug Administration. One such hormone is the synthetic version of the female hormone known as progesterone that has been proved to be carcinogenic. Now, with the rising threat of cancer from such hormones, European Union has now banned the import of cattle which are treated with 17 beta –oestradiol. This is also one of the reasons why the popularity of organic beef has increased.

Now, that you know the relation of cancer and red meat, next time whenever you hear someone talking about red meat and cancer, you know who should be blamed actually.

Image credits - healthsignal.net, hypnosishealthinfo.com