Vegetarians less likely cancer sufferers

Oxford, March 17: It is widely believed that a vegetarian diet has several health benefits. Now a new U.K. research suggests that a diet rich in vegetables could protect against various cancers.

For most people, nutritionists already recommend a diet that is typically high in fruit and vegetables and relatively low in red and processed meat in order to maintain overall health.

But, the novel research, undertaken by Cancerdefine Research, UK at Oxford University, suggests that eating no meat at all may also help to reduce the cancer risk.

In the recent large study on diet and cancer, researchers found that individuals following a vegetarian diet were less likely to suffer from various cancers compared to meat-eaters.

To reach their findings, study leader Professor Tim Key, a Cancer Research UK epidemiologist at the University of Oxford, and colleagues looked at a sample of 52,700 healthy volunteers between the ages of 20 and 89, over several years.

Key’s team divided participants into four categories: meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans.

During follow-up, the researchers’ team noticed fewer cancers among study participants than the overall general population, probably because they were healthier in the beginning of the study.

"The overall cancer incidence rates of both the vegetarians and the non-vegetarians in this study are low compared with national rates," Prof Key said.

The study findings further demonstrated that there was a significantly lower incidence of all cancers among the fish-eaters and vegetarians, compared with the meat eaters.

But, the researchers became perplexed after finding a significantly higher rate of colorectal cancer, a disease usually linked with eating lots of red meat, among the vegetarians.

"Within the study, the incidence of all cancers combined was lower among vegetarians than among meat eaters, but the incidence of colorectal cancer was higher in vegetarians than in meat eaters," he added.

Prof Key suggested that the team needed to look more closely at how meat really increases the risk of cancer.

“This study is not definitive. It is very important that we continue with good quality, robust research to see whether these results are confirmed and to examine the complex relationship between diet and cancer risk," concluded Prof Key, who reported his finings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.