Cancer alert on barbecue meat
The Aussie tradition of a steak on the barbecue is in the gun, after a major dietary study found people who eat red meat are more likely to die from cancer or heart attack.
Barbecuing red meat was also the cooking method that caused the most cancer causing “carcinogens”, experts have warned.
The US study looked at the diets of more than 500,000 people and a follow-up 10 years later found those who ate the most red, or processed, meat had a higher incidence of death.
Eating white meat – poultry or fish – did not have the same effect and was associated with a slightly decreased risk.
Cancer Council Australia chief executive Professor Ian Olver says that while the study could not be said to show that red meat caused cancer, the apparent link warranted further research.
“Such population studies demonstrate these relationships between red meat and cancer deaths but are not able to prove that one causes the other,” he says.
“With red meat, for example, the method of cooking is important.
“For example, more carcinogens would be expected to be produced from barbecue than by slow cooking (while) the other factor predisposing to cancer is the fat content of the meat.”
The research, produced as part of the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study, is published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.
The study raised the question of what role meat should play in the diet, says Mark Wahlqvist, Director of the Asia Pacific Health and Nutrition Centre at Victoria’s Monash University.
He says that red meat in small amounts – even about an ounce or 30 grams daily – could make a significant difference to the risk of micronutrient (vitamins and minerals) deficiency.
“(But) the corollary is that a plant-based diet is a preferred orientation for food intake in the human species and many studies support this conclusion,” Professor Wahlqvist says.
Source:http://www.theage.com.au
