Meat consumption may increase one’s risk of a variety of blood cancers.
Meat and Multiple Myeloma
4.2/5 - (26 votes)
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
The NIH-AARP study also looked at diet, lifestyle, and acute myeloid leukemia. Two things seemed to do it: smoking and total meat intake—which included all beef, chicken, fish, pork, bacon, etc.
Since they measured the effect of both smoking and meat intake, we have a rare opportunity to actually compare the two in terms of cancer risk. So, in terms of our risk of getting this rare—but deadly—blood cancer, this much meat—two boneless chicken breasts’ worth—may increase our leukemia risk as much smoking ten cigarettes.
So, what if we don’t eat any meat? The most comprehensive study of cancer rates in vegetarians was published last year. No surprise that vegetarians had significantly less cancer than meat-eaters.
Perhaps the most striking finding was how low the risk was for lymphoma and leukemia among vegetarians. Just a quarter of the risk of multiple myeloma in vegetarians compared to meat-eaters; an aggressive incurable cancer of the bone marrow. Potential mechanisms include the mutagenic compounds in meat, and the viruses.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Xiaomei Ma,* Yikyung Park, Susan T. Mayne, Rong Wang, Rashmi Sinha, Albert R. Hollenbeck, Arthur Schatzkin, and Amanda J. Cross. Diet, Lifestyle, and Acute Myeloid Leukemia in the NIH–AARP Cohort. Am J Epidemiol. 2010 February 1; 171(3): 312–322.
- 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. Epub 2009 Jun 16.
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
The NIH-AARP study also looked at diet, lifestyle, and acute myeloid leukemia. Two things seemed to do it: smoking and total meat intake—which included all beef, chicken, fish, pork, bacon, etc.
Since they measured the effect of both smoking and meat intake, we have a rare opportunity to actually compare the two in terms of cancer risk. So, in terms of our risk of getting this rare—but deadly—blood cancer, this much meat—two boneless chicken breasts’ worth—may increase our leukemia risk as much smoking ten cigarettes.
So, what if we don’t eat any meat? The most comprehensive study of cancer rates in vegetarians was published last year. No surprise that vegetarians had significantly less cancer than meat-eaters.
Perhaps the most striking finding was how low the risk was for lymphoma and leukemia among vegetarians. Just a quarter of the risk of multiple myeloma in vegetarians compared to meat-eaters; an aggressive incurable cancer of the bone marrow. Potential mechanisms include the mutagenic compounds in meat, and the viruses.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Xiaomei Ma,* Yikyung Park, Susan T. Mayne, Rong Wang, Rashmi Sinha, Albert R. Hollenbeck, Arthur Schatzkin, and Amanda J. Cross. Diet, Lifestyle, and Acute Myeloid Leukemia in the NIH–AARP Cohort. Am J Epidemiol. 2010 February 1; 171(3): 312–322.
- 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. Epub 2009 Jun 16.
Republishing "Meat and Multiple Myeloma"
Terms
You may republish this material online or in print under our Creative Commons licence. You must attribute the article to NutritionFacts.org with a link back to our website in your republication.
If any changes are made to the original text or video, you must indicate, reasonably, what has changed about the article or video.
You may not use our material for commercial purposes.
You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that restrict others from doing anything permitted here.
If you have any questions, please Contact Us
Title
Meat and Multiple Myeloma
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
Check out these other videos on blood cancers:
Hot Dogs & Leukemia
EPIC Findings on Lymphoma
And check out my other videos on meat.
For more context, also see my associated blog posts: Poultry Paunch: Meat & Weight Gain; and Harvard’s Meat & Mortality Studies.
If you haven’t yet, you can subscribe to my videos for free by clicking here. Read our important information about translations here.
Previous Video
Next Video
