A new meta-analysis of data from 14 prospective cohort studies suggests that eating red meat and processed meat can slightly increase risk for breast cancer.
The study shows that individuals who ate the highest amounts of red meat and processed meat had their risk for breast cancer increased by 10% and 8% respectively compared with those who ate the lowest amounts.
Specifically, eating 120 grams of red meat per day was associated with 11% increased risk for breast cancer while eating 50 grams of processed meat per day was associated with 9% increased risk for breast cancer.
Heme iron in red meat, carcinogens formed in processed meat during the processing, and preservatives such as sodium nitrite are known to increase the risk for cancers.
Jingyu Guo, Wei Wei, Lixing Zhan: Red and processed meat intake and risk of breast cancer: a meta-analysis of prospective studies, Epidemiology, Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, May 2015, Volume 151, Issue 1, pp 191-198
Another study published in Nov 2015 in International Journal of Cancer suggests that those whose intake of red meat and processed meat in the highest quintile were at 25% and 27% increased risk, respectively, for breast cancer than those whose intake was in the lowest quintile.
This study was based on data from 193,742 postmenopausal women enrolled in the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study.
A case control study recently released in Meat Science found eating processed meat even once or twice in a week was associated with 2.7 fold higher risk for developing breast cancer.
However, the same study did not find any significant association between consumption of red meat, white meat and grilled meat and the risk for breast cancer.
