Red meat linked to cancer?

Hey everyone! I'm new here but I'm curious to see what people think about this. I found this study (http://www.truthlyapp.com/truths/277) that linked red meat to cancer, and then I found several more on pubmed that came to very similar conclusions. Has anyone decided to make a switch because of these new studies? What meats do you primarily eat? I'm a total sucker for burgers and steak so I need some new ideas! Thanks!
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Replies

  • brianpperkins
    brianpperkins Posts: 6,124 Member
    Correlation is not causation.
  • sculli123
    sculli123 Posts: 1,221 Member
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  • thavoice
    thavoice Posts: 1,326 Member
    i will always eat red meat.
  • FeraFilia
    FeraFilia Posts: 4,664 Member
    A perfectly grilled steak is worth the risk, IMHO.
  • Swiftlet66
    Swiftlet66 Posts: 729 Member
    Almost everything is linked to cancer these days...
  • VaporeonSugar
    VaporeonSugar Posts: 117 Member
    I'm not sure if it's linked to cancer, but I can't eat it. I get violently ill if I eat meat. Most everyone in my family has died of cancer though, so maybe my body doesn't want me to do so as well. :P

    I'm pretty sure if you go ask California, they'll tell you everything is linked to cancer, so I wouldn't worry much about it.
  • PunkyRachel
    PunkyRachel Posts: 1,959 Member
    Everything is linked to Cancer. I stopped buying red meat a few years back, but I occasional eat it when out with a friends or family.
  • midas1022
    midas1022 Posts: 151
    How large was the study? For every study you find against red meat I can show you ten that say the exact opposite. I spend a lot of time reading about studies about different foods and it's not unusual to see an article against a type of food and then seeing the exact opposite conclusion the next week.
  • segovm
    segovm Posts: 512 Member
    I'd say most studies are probably working with biased data. Red meat has been the "bad" meat for a while now. People that shy away from red meat are statistically more likely in all probability to also be more health and fitness conscience.

    Most studies end up having similar problems, cause and effect are almost impossible to discern if the thing that causes the effect does not do so at the moment of consumption. The further effect gets away from cause the more variables get introduced and most studies do not do much to eliminate those new variables as potential causes in and of themselves.
  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,064 Member
    Everything is linked to cancer
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    If I remember this study correctly, the numbers looked scary the way they stated them, but when broken down, the risk, if it is causation and not correlation, was a tiny fraction of a percent higher than for a non meat eater.

    But then again, now that some farmers can't afford corn and are feeding their cows chocolate sprinkles and cookies, who knows what will happen?

    If nothing else, wouldn't surprise me to see them breed some extra-super strain of e coli from that.
  • elliej
    elliej Posts: 466 Member
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    I take precautions when eating my red meat, I always make sure I have one glass of red wine for every 100g of beef or lamb.
  • JojoEffeckt164
    JojoEffeckt164 Posts: 146 Member
    - Milk/dairy leads to cancer :sick:
    - eggs lead to high colesterol (at least this has been proven to be wrong) :sick:
    - butter is bad too for some reason I forgot :sick:
    - veggies and fruits are fine in general, but the pesticides on them.... yep... Cancer again :sick:
    - sugar -> increases the growing of tumor cells :sick:
    - oh yeah and meat... suuuuuuper bad! Don´t eat meat like those idiots in the stone age... I´m sure they died from cancer too! :sick:


    At the end of the day you would probably have to stop eating if you cut out everything of your diet that leads to cancer or something else that might kill you.... Those studies are often bad designed... Nobody does actually look at the designs... We just read the results and than believe it. When it comes to food industry we need to learn that we must mistrust every result first. Than we need to use our brain and think weather it might be actually right what they say or not.
    100% of people who drink water die. But there is no reason to think that water couses death!

    I think we should try to eat everything in moderation and as much organic as possible. That´s what I suggest my friends when they ask me. :flowerforyou:
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    The last study I read about on this showed that processed red meat was the culprit and unprocessed red meat didn't have the same effect.

    So I'd say it's not the actual meat that's the issue (assuming there really is a causal link, which there might not be), but something that happens to it during processing. And it's not the processing itself - mechanical processing is unlikely to be the cause... probably it's some ingredient added in some methods of processing or preserving these meats. And it's not likely to be cooking either seeing as humans have eaten cooked meat for over a million years. So IMO this is something that should be researched further, because if this is what's happening then whatever ingredient it is causing the issue needs to not be used anymore.

    Anyway, there have been a few studies linking processed meats to health issues as far as I'm aware, but not enough to prove cause and effect. The more recent ones separating processed meats from minimally processed red meats are more interesting, as now the correlation only exists with the processed meats, and the fact that it's isolating a specific factor is indeed suggestive of the need for further research.
  • Yes, eating red meat is associated with a sharply increased risk of cancer. The people who eat red meat are less physically active, had a higher body index and more likely to smoke. Eating red meat daily increase the risk of cancer to 10 % and it increase 12% risk of dying.
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    The last study I read about on this showed that processed red meat was the culprit and unprocessed red meat didn't have the same effect.

    So I'd say it's not the actual meat that's the issue (assuming there really is a causal link, which there might not be), but something that happens to it during processing. And it's not the processing itself - mechanical processing is unlikely to be the cause... probably it's some ingredient added in some methods of processing or preserving these meats. And it's not likely to be cooking either seeing as humans have eaten cooked meat for over a million years. So IMO this is something that should be researched further, because if this is what's happening then whatever ingredient it is causing the issue needs to not be used anymore.

    Anyway, there have been a few studies linking processed meats to health issues as far as I'm aware, but not enough to prove cause and effect. The more recent ones separating processed meats from minimally processed red meats are more interesting, as now the correlation only exists with the processed meats, and the fact that it's isolating a specific factor is indeed suggestive of the need for further research.

    That wouldn't surprise me at all. The only meat I ever ate that I regret for the sake of my health was bacon, luncheon meat, and hot dogs.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,002 Member
    Everything is linked to everything and everything is correlated to everything. Correlation is not causation so I would not worry about it. Eat a well balanced diet with lots of variety and you should be fine... and remember to exercise!
  • corgicake
    corgicake Posts: 846 Member
    They finally managed to link broccoli to cancer (gmo's, pesticides, etc) so I throw up my hands and throw red meat in the pot, along with anything else that tastes good and isn't going to outright reverse what I've been doing.
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    They finally managed to link broccoli to cancer (gmo's, pesticides, etc) so I throw up my hands and throw red meat in the pot, along with anything else that tastes good and isn't going to outright reverse what I've been doing.

    Maybe instead of throwing up our hands we should all kick up a fuss until our food isn't toxic. Just a thought.
  • ahamm002
    ahamm002 Posts: 1,690 Member
    And lets not forget that many cooked carbohydrates have acrylamide, which is also linked to cancer. So good luck avoiding all foods with a link to cancer. You can only wear your tinfoil hat so much.
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    And lets not forget that many cooked carbohydrates have acrylamide, which is also linked to cancer. So good luck avoiding all foods with a link to cancer. You can only wear your tinfoil hat so much.

    The air quality in many places isn't the best, either. Guess that means I should take up smoking and stand around in public puffing away? Who cares about those pesky laws, we all gotta die from something!
  • segovm
    segovm Posts: 512 Member
    The air quality in many places isn't the best, either. Guess that means I should take up smoking and stand around in public puffing away? Who cares about those pesky laws, we all gotta die from something!

    I puff on an electronic cigarette now and it is SOOOO much fun seeing the anti-smoking crusade get all up in arms whenever they see a puff of vapor float out of my mouth.

    The rage is intense. Often they will start fake coughing as they walk over, scanning the crowd for children they can label as victims, searching for a manager or police office to stop the crimes against humanity I am perpetuating....

    And then they hop in their SuV to drive home as I ride my solar powered electric bike home from the store.

    The irony is strong with them....
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    The air quality in many places isn't the best, either. Guess that means I should take up smoking and stand around in public puffing away? Who cares about those pesky laws, we all gotta die from something!

    I puff on an electronic cigarette now and it is SOOOO much fun seeing the anti-smoking crusade get all up in arms whenever they see a puff of vapor float out of my mouth.

    The rage is intense. Often they will start fake coughing as they walk over, scanning the crowd for children they can label as victims, searching for a manager or police office to stop the crimes against humanity I am perpetuating....

    And then they hop in their SuV to drive home as I ride my solar powered electric bike home from the store.

    The irony is strong with them....

    Haha. Evil. But funny. I already know how to spot those. Point still stands though. You can't have everything safe as houses (and let's not even get into volatile organic compounds and indoor mold) but people really do need to pay attention to reputable studies on these issues, and at some point (sooner rather than later I hope) it's time to do something about it. Because the companies sure won't. They can't. They're all about profit. By law.
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
    Hey everyone! I'm new here but I'm curious to see what people think about this. I found this study (http://www.truthlyapp.com/truths/277) that linked red meat to cancer, and then I found several more on pubmed that came to very similar conclusions. Has anyone decided to make a switch because of these new studies? What meats do you primarily eat? I'm a total sucker for burgers and steak so I need some new ideas! Thanks!
    [/quote

    I mostly eat red meat. Steaks, beef liver, roasts, burgers, etc...............

    I think quality of the meat has more to do with this than the red meat itself. I purchase grass fed, pastured beef from local farmers.
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
    If I remember this study correctly, the numbers looked scary the way they stated them, but when broken down, the risk, if it is causation and not correlation, was a tiny fraction of a percent higher than for a non meat eater.

    But then again, now that some farmers can't afford corn and are feeding their cows chocolate sprinkles and cookies, who knows what will happen?

    If nothing else, wouldn't surprise me to see them breed some extra-super strain of e coli from that.

    Corn is not part of a cows natural diet either...................grasses are what nature intended for cows to eat.
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    If I remember this study correctly, the numbers looked scary the way they stated them, but when broken down, the risk, if it is causation and not correlation, was a tiny fraction of a percent higher than for a non meat eater.

    But then again, now that some farmers can't afford corn and are feeding their cows chocolate sprinkles and cookies, who knows what will happen?

    If nothing else, wouldn't surprise me to see them breed some extra-super strain of e coli from that.

    Corn is not part of a cows natural diet either...................grasses are what nature intended for cows to eat.

    I know, and I've been reading that this may be increasing e coli. But I admit, I didn't go digging into that theory for peer reviewed studies or anything.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    I'd rather live a short life with cancer than a long one without steak.

    seriously.

    life without steak isn't worth living.
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
    If I remember this study correctly, the numbers looked scary the way they stated them, but when broken down, the risk, if it is causation and not correlation, was a tiny fraction of a percent higher than for a non meat eater.

    But then again, now that some farmers can't afford corn and are feeding their cows chocolate sprinkles and cookies, who knows what will happen?

    If nothing else, wouldn't surprise me to see them breed some extra-super strain of e coli from that.

    Corn is not part of a cows natural diet either...................grasses are what nature intended for cows to eat.

    I know, and I've been reading that this may be increasing e coli. But I admit, I didn't go digging into that theory for peer reviewed studies or anything.

    Yes, e-coli contamination and lets not get into the CAFO's and factory farming and the increases that causes with the cows being practically forced to stand on top of one another.

    Mad cow disease is linked to the CAFO's also.
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    If I remember this study correctly, the numbers looked scary the way they stated them, but when broken down, the risk, if it is causation and not correlation, was a tiny fraction of a percent higher than for a non meat eater.

    But then again, now that some farmers can't afford corn and are feeding their cows chocolate sprinkles and cookies, who knows what will happen?

    If nothing else, wouldn't surprise me to see them breed some extra-super strain of e coli from that.

    Corn is not part of a cows natural diet either...................grasses are what nature intended for cows to eat.

    I know, and I've been reading that this may be increasing e coli. But I admit, I didn't go digging into that theory for peer reviewed studies or anything.

    Yes, e-coli contamination and lets not get into the CAFO's and factory farming and the increases that causes with the cows being practically forced to stand on top of one another.

    Mad cow disease is linked to the CAFO's also.

    Which reminds me. When Americans collectively get fed up enough to get our collective heads out of our collective butts, the first demand should be independent researchers doing independent studies on food and drug safety issues. And an end to the paid studies and the self policing all around.