Some mouse studies that link heme to colon cancer feed the mice way too much red meat and not enough calcium, so those results don’t tell us what happens when people eat normal amounts of red meat.

Scientists think the iron in red meat might cause colon cancer, but the lab tests that suggest this use way more iron than people normally eat, so we can't say eating red meat like usual actually causes cancer.

We know that eating a lot of red and processed meats is linked to higher cancer risk, but scientists still don't fully understand how exactly that happens in the body.

Eating red meat might increase your risk of getting colon cancer — scientists aren't totally sure, but there's some concerning evidence and a good biological reason to think it could be harmful.

Eating red meat might raise your chances of dying from cancer or getting certain types of cancer, according to big reviews of past research.

Eating more red and processed meat doesn't seem to help prevent cancer, according to studies that looked at how much people eat.