More evidence vegetarian diet may cut cancer risk





Posted: February 16, 2004


NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Eating a meat-free, vegetarian diet may
reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, new research suggests.


After following more than 10,000 people for 17 years, investigators
found that vegetarians were 15 percent less likely to develop
colorectal cancer than meat-eaters.

This study adds to the "increasing scientific evidence" that a diet
rich in fruit, vegetables and fiber and low in meat--especially red
and processed meat--can prevent colorectal cancer, study author Dr.
Miguel Sanjoaquin of the University of Oxford, UK, told Reuters
Health.

However, Sanjoaquin cautioned that only a small number of study
participants -95--developed colorectal cancer, making it impossible
to determine if fewer vegetarians developed cancer simply due to
chance.

However, Sanjoaquin noted that a previous study featuring more cases
of colorectal cancer confirmed these findings, and he added that it
makes sense that eating vegetarian could cut cancer risk. The fat in
red meat increases the excretion of substances called bile acids, he
explained, which in turn produce other substances that encourage
tumor growth.

Furthermore, meat contains natural compounds and substances formed
during processing and high-temperature cooking that can disrupt the
normal balance of cell growth in the colon, potentially triggering
the cancer, Sanjoaquin noted.

Alternatively, substances in fruits and vegetables-- staples of the
vegetarian diet--"may inhibit these adverse effects," he added.

During the current study, Sanjoaquin and his colleagues asked 10,998
adults about their eating habits and other health parameters, then
noted who developed colorectal cancer.

People were classified as non-vegetarians if they ate meat or fish.
Vegetarians included vegans, who avoid all dairy and meat products.

Along with a decreased risk of cancer from eating vegetarian, the
investigators found that frequent fruit eaters - consuming more than
5 servings of fruit per week--were over 40 percent less likely to
develop colorectal cancer.

Smoking, drinking alcohol and eating more than 15 slices of white
bread per week appeared to increase the risk of colorectal cancer,
according to the British Journal of Cancer report.

Sanjoaquin said the fact that white bread appeared to reduce cancer
risk was "unexpected," and suggested that people who ate large
amounts of white bread might have simply had a less healthy diet
overall.

Alternatively, he added researchers have noted that eating large
quantities of refined carbohydrates, such as those found in white
bread, may raise colorectal cancer risk, suggesting that white bread
itself may also play a role.

"More research will be needed to clarify this," Sanjoaquin said.




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