Red Meat Increases Bowel Cancer Risk by 17 Percent

You may have noticed from the post I recently wrote on the Eat to Defeat Cancer Campaign that the only food group not on the list for cancer prevention was meat. It wasn't just fruits and vegetables that made the list either. It was every food group from olive oil to maple syrup and everywhere in between. But meat was completely absent.

That's likely because red meat and all processed meats may actually cause cancer. You may recall this from the landmark study that Rachel wrote about a few years back from The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), which found that processed meats were too dangerous for human consumption.

Most recently, the new WCRF report, part of its Continuous Update Project (CUP), which aims to update previous advice in reports based on new evidence, added 263 new papers on bowel cancer to the 749 that were analyzed as part of the 2007 Report.

According to Food Navigator USA:

The advice was given after the reporting panel "confirmed that there is convincing evidence that both red and processed meat increase bowel cancer risk." They added that consumption of an extra 100 grams of red meat per day could increase the bowel cancer risk by 17 percent.