Member Article

Meat eating/stomach cancer link

Meat-eaters with a particular strain of bacteria in their stomachs are five times as likely to suffer from stomach cancer than people with the bacteria who do not eat meat, a new study claims. Half a million participants from ten European countries took part in the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study, researching the Helicobacter pylori bacterium. Per 100 grams of daily meat and processed meat intake, the scientists calculated a risk elevation for stomach cancer of 252%. A separate study of those patients with detected Helicobacter pylori infections showed the values even more clearly: in infected persons, 100 grams of meat and processed meat per day increase the stomach cancer risk by 432%. For non-infected persons, no significant relationship between meat consumption and stomach cancer was found. “Meat is an important source of iron - Helicobacter needs a sufficient supply of iron,” says PD Dr. Jakob Linseisen, director of the EPIC study. “In addition, heme-iron promotes the formation of carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds such as nitrosamines. Cured products also contain a lot of salt and nitrite. It is possible that it is the combination of several factors that promotes a chronic inflammation process and, thus, increases the risk of cancer.” Stomach cancer is the second most frequent cause of cancer death worldwide.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .