Heavy red meat diet poses colon cancer risk: research

A National Cancer Center team said Monday it has found people who eat large amounts of red meat are at greater risk of colon cancer and is advising consumption of beef and pork be pared.

The team tracked until 2006 the eating habits and cancer risks of some 80,000 men and women who were between the ages of 45 and 74 in the second half of the 1990s, including 788 who developed colon cancer during the tracking period, and divided them into five groups according to their meat consumption.

Women who ate some 80 grams or more of beef and pork daily had a 48 percent higher colon cancer risk than those who consumed less than 25 grams, the team said. The consumption weight is for beef and pork before cooking.

While no similar tendency was found among men, it said, men who ate some 100 grams or more of beef, pork and chicken had a 44 percent higher colon cancer risk than those who consumed less than 35 grams.