Jun 15, 2005

Red meat linked to increased risk of bowel cancer

Posted in Health at 1:30 pm by David Bradley -- Click to comment

The UK media today reported that red meat increases the risk of bowel cancer: e.g. Telegraph

35% increased risk screamed the headlines. But, fascinating the findings are none of the reports I saw mentioned the incidence rate and how low that actually is compared to, say, deaths from road accidents or obesity-related heart disease. So a 35% increased risk of something not very risky is not necessarily as significant as the cancer research organisations are claiming. Moreover, just one portion of any fish once a week can reduce the risk by 30%. So, presumably you can eat bacon, burgers and bangers 5 days a week and fish at weekends to cancel the positive effect with a negative.

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