title: Meat and colo-rectal cancer.
abstract: In early epidemiological studies of diet and cancer the stress was on the search for causal factors. Population (ecological) studies tended to show a strong correlation between meat intake, particularly red meat, and the risk of colo-rectal cancer. They also tended to show meat to be strongly inversely correlated with cancers of the stomach and oesophagus and liver. Early case-control studies tended to support the postulated role for red meat in colo-rectal carcinogenesis, although more recent case-control studies, particularly those from Europe, have tended to show no relationship. The cohort studies in general failed to detect any relationship between meat intake and colo-rectal cancer risk. The available evidence points to the intake of protective factors such as vegetables and whole-grain cereals being the main determinants of colo-rectal cancer risk, with meat intake only coincidentally related.
authors.affiliation: Lady Sobell Gastrointestinal Unit, Wexham Park Hospital, Slough, UK.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hill
mesh_terms: D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D004032:Diet; D016021:Epidemiologic Studies; D006801:Humans; D008460:Meat / Q000009:adverse effects*