High protein diet has similar cancer risks than smoking?!
lamps1303
Posts: 432 Member
Thought I would share this with you as it both shocked and humoured me...
I was driving to the gym this morning when the news came on the radio. Apparently a study in America has revealed that diets high in animal protein, specifically red meat, eggs and dairy, increases the risk of death from cancer and diabetes fourfold in those under the age of 65 - almost as much as smoking?! :huh:
You can read a news article about the study here: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/04/animal-protein-diets-smoking-meat-eggs-dairy
I will continue to get 25-30% of my calories from protein...that is all.
I was driving to the gym this morning when the news came on the radio. Apparently a study in America has revealed that diets high in animal protein, specifically red meat, eggs and dairy, increases the risk of death from cancer and diabetes fourfold in those under the age of 65 - almost as much as smoking?! :huh:
You can read a news article about the study here: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/04/animal-protein-diets-smoking-meat-eggs-dairy
I will continue to get 25-30% of my calories from protein...that is all.
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Replies
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False. And this is not a peer-reviewed study.0
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I saw this in the daily mail this morning too. I am just so confused :-(0
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That's fine with me. My protein comes from birds, fish, plants and nuts. I don't eat red meat and I can't tolerate eggs and dairy so I guess I'm good to go.0
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I saw this just after I'd been trying to talk a friend into eating more protein lol0
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Yeah I read this today too. Sounded a bit odd to me....But then the Guardian/Daily Mail both have a history of randomly naming stuff that gives you cancer, and then three weeks later saying it doesn't. It's all rubbish, I don't believe anything I read in either of those papers.0
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*Study funded by "Live Vegan!" :-/0
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I saw this just after I'd been trying to talk a friend into eating more protein lol
The title is misleading. I think they are not saying that protein is bad, just that certain sources MAY be problematic. Your friend should still eat more protein!0 -
This. lol
All jokes aside, please don't take anything at face value. Just because one "study" claims something doesn't make it valid. I'm in bed on my phone otherwise I'd show you plenty of studies that prove otherwise0 -
The study is in no way conclusive, and the suggestion is only that high-protein in middle age *may* be problematic - the study even admits that low protein is likely to be a bad approach in later life. I wouldn't worry about it, on the strength of an observational, rather than experimental, study.0
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Heard and read the same thing. The Australian study seems to draw quite a long bow with the conclusions they reached - increased lifespan and decreased morbidity with the high carb diet, from a study on mice. That's one hell of an extrapolation.
Can't find the original study, otherwise I'd link.
ETA: I've no doubt the study is legit, my concern is with the mainstream reporting it's received. I blame Rupert Murdoch lol.0 -
Could be propaganda.0
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The study is VERY questionable and it has not, and will not, deter me from eating a moderate to high protein diet. It just amused me when I heard it on the radio (I'm pretty sure I actually chuckled) so I thought I would share it with you all too.0
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:drinker:
Love New Scientist!!0 -
From the article:" I would urge general caution over observational studies, and particularly when looking at diet, given the difficulties of disentangling one nutrient or dietary component from another. You can get an association that might have some causal linkage or might not," said Peter Emery, head of nutrition and dietetics at King's College London.
Geesh, lousy science reporting!0 -
This is Christine Cronau's response
Sensational headlines! Meat and Cheese Linked to Earlier Death!
Or, are they? Every few years, there is a new study that claims that animal protein is bad for us, but every single one of those studies has been faulty. Two years ago it was claimed that eating more meat caused more death from heart disease and cancer. But, when the study was evaluated, it showed that those dying earlier:
—smoked more
—exercised less
—were more overweight
—were more diabetic
—were more hypertensive
—ate more in general
—ate less vegetables and fruit
—ate more red meat
Oh, there it is, thus, red meat causes cancer! Are they kidding?
What about this latest study?
Dr Longo said, "We provide convincing evidence that a high-protein diet, particularly if the proteins are derived from animals, is nearly as bad as smoking." Large claim.
The study stated that in humans, higher protein intake is 'associated' with higher rates of diabetes related deaths. Because we know excess carbohydrates causes diabetes (biochemistry), the fact that we don't know what was being eaten WITH the protein is a huge flaw in a study with this type of conclusion.
Also, were the diets of the participants carefully analysed over a long period of time to ascertain exactly what these people were eating? Ah, that would be a no. Nutrient intake was based on "food and beverage intake during a 24 hour period." What!?
They also studied mice and claimed that mice on a high-protein diet "ate less and were slimmer," but had a "reduced lifespan and poor heart and overall health."
Hmm. Mice are generally vegetarian. They have not evolved to eat large amounts of animal protein. Like comedian and health writer Tom Naughton says, "When investigators feed a diet to an animal that is completely unnatural for the animal, I don't care what the results are. I don't care if T. Colin Campbell can produce cancer in rats by feeding them an isolated dairy protein, because most rats don't milk cows. The ones who do don't have the technology to separate the proteins."0 -
If you are truly interested in this subject, I would reccomend the China Study by Dr T.Colin Campbell.0
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This shows we have so much to learn and unlearn. Remember each calorie has the same value, forget one may come with vitamins minerals and other beneficial things whereas others are completely of anything but the white stuff. READ, THINK, UNDERSTAND, CONSIDER, SIT ON A FENCE OR ACCEPT OR DISMISS.0
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If you are truly interested in this subject, I would reccomend the China Study by Dr T.Colin Campbell.
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False. And this is not a peer-reviewed study.
Er, yes it was actually, it was published in Cell Metabolism: http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(14)00062-X#Summary
Nevertheless, the way this has been interpreted in the press is very misleading and when you look into the actual data, the link is rather tenuous!!
1. The study only looked at people over the age of 50, who have a naturally higher risk of cancer anyway (everyone's risk of cancer increases as you get older simply because you have been around longer and exposed to carcinogens longer).
2. The point is not emphasised that the study found high protein intake seems to INCREASE life span over the age of 60.
3. Data about dietary intake was based on a survey - there is big scope for reporting errors here (e.g. people filling in a survey tend to withhold information if they think they're not giving the "right" answers - here on MFP we're generally pretty good about logging everything, but imagine if you were average Joe being asked to fill in a survey on your diet...you might be tempted to make yourself seem healthier than you really were!
4. Scientists know that people who have low levels of a molecule called IGF-1 have a reduced rate of cancer, and we know that restricting protein intake can reduce levels of IGF-1. This study used secondary data for which the actual IGF-1 levels were not available for more than half of the participants. Nevertheless, the researchers seem to have assumed that everyone who eats a low protein diet has low IGF-1. This is not necessarily very accurate.
5. I couldn't find anything in the original paper that suggested the researchers had adjusted their data to take into account things like smoking, alcohol intake or exercise (etc.). The attention-grabbing headline suggests that "high protein diets may be as bad as smoking", but we don't know whether the people in the study were in fact ALSO heavy smokers, or alcoholics, or motionless vegetables who took no exercise - maybe those confounding factors are why they were getting more cancers etc? Just because there is a statistically significant correlation between X and Y *doesn't* automatically mean that X *causes* Y.
There's plenty more, but that's enough reason for me to keep eating protein!!0 -
Saw that article this morning. Skeptical...:noway:0
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Saw that article this morning. Skeptical...:noway:
...to say the least!!0 -
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This latest study is basically an advert for L-Nutra.
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I heard being in bed with your phone causes cancer...lol0
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High-carbohydrate diets are good for you. Just throwing it out there.0
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It seems to me that maybe the meat might not be the issue and the method of cooking or delivery of said meat could be. Since they are guessing, why can't I?0
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Chucking it back to you????
Just joking.
Lots of different diets are good for you.
The best diet is the one that works for you. Be it high or low carb.0
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