Posted on 03/19/2009 11:36:22 AM PDT by nickcarraway
UK researchers found that vegetarians had a lower overall cancer rate than meat eaters, but contrary to suggestions from other studies, they found a higher rate of colorectal cancer among the vegetarians than among the meat eaters.
The study was the work of researchers working on the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Oxford (EPIC-Oxford) and the findings were published in the online issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on 11 March.
In their background information, lead author Tim Key, a Cancer Research UK epidemiologist who is based at the University of Oxford, and colleagues wrote that few prospective studies (where groups of people are followed over a period of time) have looked at cancer rates among vegetarians, although the "5 a day" recommendation is geared to lowering risk of cancers and other diseases, so they decided to look at overall and individual cancer incidence rates among vegetarians and non-vegetarians.
For the study they examined EPIC data on 63,550 men and women aged 20 to 89 recruited throughout the UK during the 1990s. They got the cancer incidence figures from national cancer registries.
The results showed that: The standardized incidence ratio for all cancers for all participants was 72 per cent (that is lower than the overall population).
Compared with meat eaters in the cohort, and after adjusting for age, sex and smoking status, the vegetarians in the cohort showed an 11 per cent lower incidence rate of all cancers.
However, for colorectal cancer, vegetarians showed a 39 per cent higher incidence rate compared with meat eaters. The authors concluded that:
"The overall cancer incidence rates of both the vegetarians and the nonvegetarians in this study are low compared with national rates."
"Within the study, the incidence of all cancers combined was lower among vegetarians than among meat eaters, but the incidence of colorectal cancer was higher in vegetarians than in meat eaters," they added.
The researchers said their findings pointed to the need for more research in this area, especially given the rather surprising finding about higher colorectal cancer rates among the non meat eaters.
Red meat has been associated with higher rates of colorectal cancer.
Key told the press that the results were interesting and suggest there "might be some reduction in cancers in vegetarians and fish-eaters and we need to look carefully at that," according to a BBC report.
Key said there was a need to look more carefully at how meat fits in, because their findings didn't support the view that vegetarians ought to have lower rates of colorectal cancer.
He explained that it was very difficult to do studies on the links between diet and cancer.
It is possible that the people in this study were not necessarily representative of the population as a whole (as suggested by the first finding), for instance most of them were eating only moderate amounts of meat every day, and most of them were only just meeting the daily recommendation of 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, a leading nutritionist commented to the BBC.
"Cancer incidence in vegetarians: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC- Oxford)." Timothy J Key, Paul N Appleby, Elizabeth A Spencer, Ruth C Travis, Andrew W Roddam, and Naomi E Allen. Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, first published online March 11, 2009. doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.26736M
Colon rectal higher with all that fiber? I’m a bit surprised by that.
Everything in moderation...
Maybe cause and effect are reversed - ie) people who know they are at higher risk due to colorectal cancer (it has a high genetic correlation) become vegetarians to forestall getting the disease.
I have a few friends that are “vegetarians.” I use the word parenthetically, because what most of them are are carb and milk fat addicts. They eat pasta, cheese pizza, french fries, bread, cereal; pretty much anything that isn’t meat or green vegetable. They have salads on occasion, but only if they are loaded down with cheese and high fat dressings.
Doesn’t look healthy to me.
There’s no direct connection between fiber and colorectal cancer. That was a myth based on a purely speculative article published decades ago, that somehow got accepted as “fact” until somebody actually tested the theory a couple of years ago. Similar to the myths about stomach ulcers being caused by excess stomach acid, often blamed on stress — now we know that the vast majority of ulcers are actually caused by a specific bacterial infection.
But that’s how most carnivores eat too, just with the addition of some meat (often including a lot of processed garbage like hot dogs and chicken nuggets).
Doesn’t look healthy to me.
I am currently on the road to getting back into shape through diet and exercise and I now eat ONLY meat, fruit, vegetables and whole cereal grains. It has done wonders for my sense of health. I now leave pasta, cheese pizza, french fries, and bread for the fat a$$e$ of the world. ... So much for what I think of vegetarians ...
Screw the vegetarian life style.
Politically incorrect question: What percent of vegetarians are homosexual males, and what impact might that have on the statistics?
So you're thinking it might matter exactly what kind of meat we're talking about and how it enters the body?
I actually think the vast majority of vegetarians today are 20 or 30-something females, who are doing it cause it’s the latest health trend (or sometimes because they can’t bear the thought of eating an animal, although they’re not crazy peta types), with a smaller sector of the ‘fringe’ tree-hugging hippies or crazy peta people, and then some random regular people who gave up meat for whatever reason (usually Lent) and discovered vegetarianism just was more their style.
Don't be. It's another BS "research". All researches/ findings/ studies.. etc are BS by default -- unless there is a very very convincing argument that they are not. I don't believe anything any more these days.
Now THAT.. is a brilliant brilliant question. Did the "research" by any chance mention if the colo-rectal tumors among these vegetarians were found in the lower rectal area ?
Too many cucumber enemas.
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