Eating red meat may up colorectal cancer risk in Black women

Unprocessed red meat intake is associated with an increased colorectal cancer (CRC) risk in Black women, according to a study published in the May issue of The Journal of Nutrition.

Ioanna Yiannakou, from Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues prospectively assessed intakes of processed and unprocessed red meat, saturated fatty acids (SFAs), and monounsaturated FAs (MUFAs) and their relation to CRC risk using data from 52,695 participants in the Black Women's Health Study (1995 to 2018; aged 21 to 69 years at baseline and followed for ≤22 years).

The researchers found that unprocessed red meat intake was associated with an increased CRC risk per 100 g/day (hazard ratio, 1.33). Unprocessed red meat was associated with an increased rectal cancer risk (hazard ratio, 2.22). There was no interaction with age, although unprocessed red meat intake was associated with a significantly increased risk for late-onset CRC (≥50 years of age; hazard ratio, 1.41). There were no associations for processed red meat and total SFA or MUFA intakes with CRC risk.

"Our results update and support the recommendation by the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institutes for Cancer Research to limit the consumption of red meat for cancer prevention," the authors write.

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