(Ivanhoe Newswire) – You may want to hold the bacon and skip the steak at your next meal. A new study find people who eat a lot of red and processed meats have greater risk of developing bowel and lung cancer. The research adds to the growing evidence that less red meat and processed meats is better for your health.

The study was conducted by investigators from the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Researchers used data from a large U.S. diet and health study. The study began in 1995 and included about a half a million men and women between 50 and 71. At the beginning of the study, none of the participants had cancer. The participants filled out a questionnaire about their dietary habits over a year.
 

Follow up over eight years revealed that people who ate the most red meat had an increased risk of developing colorectal, liver, lung and esophageal cancer compared to those who ate the least amount of red meat. Also, people who ate the most processed meat had an increased risk of colorectal and lung cancer. Researchers say one in ten colorectal and one in ten lung cancers could be avoided if people reduced their red and processed meat intake.

Researchers say they did take into consideration other lifestyle factors that increase cancer risk such as smoking, but there may be other factors that also have an influence on this increased risk.

SOURCE: PLoS Medicine, 2007;4:e325