If an American woman consumes one-and-a-half servings of red meat each day, her risk of developing breast cancer is double that of a woman who consumes three servings per week or less, say researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA.
You can read about this new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The scientists examined data on 90,000 pre-menopausal women in the Nurses Health Study II (1989-2003). All the participants had completed questionnaires which included details on their eating and drinking habits. The questionnaires were first filled-in in 1995, and then in 1995, and finally in 1999. The study also had an update, every two years, on who had developed breast cancer. It was also possible to determine whether those who had developed breast cancer, did so as a result of an oestrogen or progesterone trigger. A total of 1,021 women developed breast cancer, of which 512 were oestrogen and progesterone-receptor positive, 167 were oestrogen and progesterone-receptor negative, 110 mixed, and 232 unknowns.
The researchers found clear evidence that those who consumed large amounts of red meat regularly had a much higher risk of developing hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, compared to women whose red meat consumption was not regularly high.
The risk could be higher either because quantities of heterocyclic amines are higher in cooked or processed red meats. Heterocyclic amines are cancer causing chemicals. It is also possible the growth hormones, which are given to cattle, could be a factor. Growth hormones are not given to cattle in Europe, but they are in the United States.
“Red Meat Intake and Risk of Breast Cancer Among Premenopausal Women”
Eunyoung Cho, ScD; Wendy Y. Chen, MD, MPH; David J. Hunter, MB, BS, ScD; Meir J. Stampfer, MD, DrPH; Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH; Susan E. Hankinson, ScD; Walter C. Willett, MD, DrPH
Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:2253-2259.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today