In a study of a half million people, which was most associated with the risk of developing lymphoma? Red meat, processed meat, poultry, offal, eggs, or milk?
EPIC Findings on Lymphoma
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Yes, the incidence of all malignant cancers combined was lower among fish-only eaters and vegetarians, compared to the healthy meat-eaters. But the most striking difference between the dietary groups was in the risk for the group of cancers that include lymphomas and myeloma. Since they factored out other lifestyle differences between the meat-eaters and vegetarians—similar smoking; exercise; weight; fruit and veggie consumption—they concluded that meat itself may be the culprit, potentially due to the mutagenic compounds or viruses in meat. But that raises the question: what type of meat?
To get at that level of detail, you would need to look at a lot of people, so they enrolled the help of not just any study, but the EPIC study. EPIC, the largest forward-looking study on diet and cancer in human history, following a half million people for over ten years now.
What type of meat was the worst? They looked at red meat (beef and pork), processed meat (like bacon, ham, and sausage), poultry (chicken and turkey), also offal, which, true to its name, means entrails and organs—in practical terms, that’s liver, heart, kidneys, pancreas, blood, thymus, brains, stomach, feet, tongue, tail, as well as the head, and eyeballs. They also looked at eggs and dairy.
Which was most significantly associated with the risk of developing lymphoma? Red meat, processed meat, poultry, offal, eggs, or milk?
It was poultry consumption—associated with a significantly increased risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, all grades of follicular lymphoma, B-cell lymphomas in general, including B-cell chronic lymphatic leukemia, including small lymphocytic leukemia and prolymphocytic lymphocytic leukemia.
Up to triple the rates for every 50 grams of daily poultry consumption. A cooked chicken breast averages over 200 grams; so that’s for just a quarter of a chicken breast worth of poultry.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Key TJ, Appleby PN, Spencer EA, Travis RC, Allen NE, Thorogood M, Mann JI. Cancer incidence in British vegetarians. Br J Cancer. 2009 Jul 7;101(1):192-7.
- Rohrmann S, Linseisen J, Jakobsen MU, Overvad K, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Tjonneland A, Boutron-Ruault MC, Kaaks R, Becker N, Bergmann M, Boeing H, Khaw KT, Wareham NJ, Key TJ, Travis R, Benetou V, Naska A, Trichopoulou A, Pala V, Tumino R, Masala G, Mattiello A, Brustad M, Lund E, Skeie G, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Peeters PH, Vermeulen RC, Jakszyn P, Dorronsoro M, Barricarte A, Tormo MJ, Molina E, Argüelles M, Melin B, Ericson U, Manjer J, Rinaldi S, Slimani N, Boffetta P, Vergnaud AC, Khan A, Norat T, Vineis P. Consumption of meat and dairy and lymphoma risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Int J Cancer. 2011 Feb 1;128(3):623-34.
- Fernandes A, Mortimer D, Rose M, Gem M. Dioxins (PCDD/Fs) and PCBs in offal: occurrence and dietary exposure. Chemosphere. 2010 Sep;81(4):536-40.
Images thanks to Rainer Zen, MCB, Sun Ladder, Amidelalune, Carsten Niehaus, and Renee Comet for the National Cancer Institute via Wikimedia Commons.
Yes, the incidence of all malignant cancers combined was lower among fish-only eaters and vegetarians, compared to the healthy meat-eaters. But the most striking difference between the dietary groups was in the risk for the group of cancers that include lymphomas and myeloma. Since they factored out other lifestyle differences between the meat-eaters and vegetarians—similar smoking; exercise; weight; fruit and veggie consumption—they concluded that meat itself may be the culprit, potentially due to the mutagenic compounds or viruses in meat. But that raises the question: what type of meat?
To get at that level of detail, you would need to look at a lot of people, so they enrolled the help of not just any study, but the EPIC study. EPIC, the largest forward-looking study on diet and cancer in human history, following a half million people for over ten years now.
What type of meat was the worst? They looked at red meat (beef and pork), processed meat (like bacon, ham, and sausage), poultry (chicken and turkey), also offal, which, true to its name, means entrails and organs—in practical terms, that’s liver, heart, kidneys, pancreas, blood, thymus, brains, stomach, feet, tongue, tail, as well as the head, and eyeballs. They also looked at eggs and dairy.
Which was most significantly associated with the risk of developing lymphoma? Red meat, processed meat, poultry, offal, eggs, or milk?
It was poultry consumption—associated with a significantly increased risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, all grades of follicular lymphoma, B-cell lymphomas in general, including B-cell chronic lymphatic leukemia, including small lymphocytic leukemia and prolymphocytic lymphocytic leukemia.
Up to triple the rates for every 50 grams of daily poultry consumption. A cooked chicken breast averages over 200 grams; so that’s for just a quarter of a chicken breast worth of poultry.
To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Key TJ, Appleby PN, Spencer EA, Travis RC, Allen NE, Thorogood M, Mann JI. Cancer incidence in British vegetarians. Br J Cancer. 2009 Jul 7;101(1):192-7.
- Rohrmann S, Linseisen J, Jakobsen MU, Overvad K, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Tjonneland A, Boutron-Ruault MC, Kaaks R, Becker N, Bergmann M, Boeing H, Khaw KT, Wareham NJ, Key TJ, Travis R, Benetou V, Naska A, Trichopoulou A, Pala V, Tumino R, Masala G, Mattiello A, Brustad M, Lund E, Skeie G, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Peeters PH, Vermeulen RC, Jakszyn P, Dorronsoro M, Barricarte A, Tormo MJ, Molina E, Argüelles M, Melin B, Ericson U, Manjer J, Rinaldi S, Slimani N, Boffetta P, Vergnaud AC, Khan A, Norat T, Vineis P. Consumption of meat and dairy and lymphoma risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. Int J Cancer. 2011 Feb 1;128(3):623-34.
- Fernandes A, Mortimer D, Rose M, Gem M. Dioxins (PCDD/Fs) and PCBs in offal: occurrence and dietary exposure. Chemosphere. 2010 Sep;81(4):536-40.
Images thanks to Rainer Zen, MCB, Sun Ladder, Amidelalune, Carsten Niehaus, and Renee Comet for the National Cancer Institute via Wikimedia Commons.
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EPIC Findings on Lymphoma
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Content URLDoctor's Note
Why was there so much more lymphoma and leukemia risk among those eating just a small serving of chicken a day? That’s the subject of Chicken Dioxins, Viruses, or Antibiotics?. And see Vegetarians Versus Healthy Omnivores for a discussion of overall cancer rates. The EPIC study also compared obesity rates in omnivores, flexitarians, vegetarians, and vegans. See Thousands of Vegans Studied.
For more context, check out my associated blog posts: Poultry and Penis Cancer; Poultry Paunch: Meat & Weight Gain; Treating an Enlarged Prostate With Diet; Eating Green to Prevent Cancer; How To Reduce Dietary Antibiotic Intake; and How Tumors Use Meat to Grow.
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