14 DAY TRIAL // Women should be careful about their red meat intake and try not to eat too large servings of the food, as a recent study found that the aliment increases risk of certain breast-cancers. The research has been carried out by a team of scientists at the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, US and found that large amounts of red meat may lead to elevated chances of developing breast cancer even in women who haven't reached menopause yet.
The study analyzed medical data of about 90,000 women throughout a 12-year period, from 1991 to 2003. Participants in the study have been periodically, every 4 years, interviewed about their diet, the state of their general health and if they have experienced breast cancer symptoms. Overall results of the study showed that women who reported consuming large amounts of red meat were about twice as likely to develop certain breast-cancers, including hormone-related breast cancer.
Taking into account the fact that a serving of red meat equated in the study to 100 grams of red meat or a quarter pound of hamburger, findings showed that women who ate more than 1.5 servings of red meat daily had nearly a 2-fold risk for breast cancer. On the other hand, women who consumed three or fewer servings of the same aliment per week were about twice less likely to develop symptoms of the fearful condition.
Scientists explained that the leading chemicals which make red meat that harmful are linked to food additives and preservatives added to red meat while processing it or growth hormones given to the cattle the meat comes from. Researcher Eunyoung Cho who led the Harvard Medical School study highlighted the fact that the rate of hormone sensitive cancers is on a continual increase in the US, while the rate of hormone insensitive cancers has remained steady. This is mainly due to hormone-like compounds used in the food industry and added to alimentary products. Therefore, red meat consumption raises risk for breast cancer in women because there are many hormones or hormone-like chemicals added to the food.
Eunyoung Cho concluded that "it's prudent for women to reduce their red meat intake for health purposes." However, Henry Scowcroft of the Cancer Research UK emphasized the fact that red meat consumption is not highly responsible for elevated overall rates of breast cancer in women, as the risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer is rather low: "The overall risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer is low when compared to getting the disease after the menopause. So even at the highest rates of meat consumption, this is overall still a relatively small increase."