Why your burger might not be causing colon cancer (based on science)
Red meat and colon cancer: A review of mechanistic evidence for heme in the context of risk assessment methodology.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists looked at lab and animal studies that say red meat causes cancer, but found they used way too much iron and weird diets. In people, the chemicals made from eating meat are different from the ones that damage DNA.
Surprising Findings
The N-nitroso compounds formed in humans from red meat are not the same DNA-damaging ones previously blamed for cancer.
IARC classified red meat as 'probably carcinogenic' based partly on these compounds — but this review says the actual compounds formed in humans are chemically different and likely not carcinogenic.
Practical Takeaways
You don’t need to eliminate red meat to reduce cancer risk — the evidence linking it to cancer via heme iron is based on unrealistic science.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists looked at lab and animal studies that say red meat causes cancer, but found they used way too much iron and weird diets. In people, the chemicals made from eating meat are different from the ones that damage DNA.
Surprising Findings
The N-nitroso compounds formed in humans from red meat are not the same DNA-damaging ones previously blamed for cancer.
IARC classified red meat as 'probably carcinogenic' based partly on these compounds — but this review says the actual compounds formed in humans are chemically different and likely not carcinogenic.
Practical Takeaways
You don’t need to eliminate red meat to reduce cancer risk — the evidence linking it to cancer via heme iron is based on unrealistic science.
Publication
Journal
Food and chemical toxicology : an international journal published for the British Industrial Biological Research Association
Year
2018
Authors
C. Kruger, Yuting Zhou
Related Content
Claims (3)
When people eat red meat, their bodies make certain chemicals called N-nitroso compounds, but these are not the same dangerous ones that damage DNA and cause cancer.
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.