Today

A new study has supported reports that high levels of consumption of red and processed meat can lead to an increased risk of colorectal cancer.

At the same time the study, released by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, also found that high levels of fish consumption are associated with a decreased risk.

Drs Elio Riboli and Teresa Norat, who are based in Lyon, France, and colleagues used data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition for the study.

Researchers analysed the eating habits of over half a million Western Europeans to examine the associations between intakes of red and processed meat, poultry, and fish and colorectal cancer risk.

The study showed a 35% increased risk of developing colorectal cancer in those individuals who consumed the highest quantities of red and processed meat, compared with subjects with the lowest consumption.

Dr Teresa Norat said: "At the same time, the risk of developing colorectal cancer was 31% lower among individuals with the highest fish consumption compared with subjects in the lowest category of fish consumption!" There was also no association between poultry consumption and colorectal cancer risk.

The present study shows that the reduction in risk associated with fish consumption and the increase in risk associated with increased red meat consumption are independent from each other.

Dr Riboli, the Coordinator of the European-wide EPIC study, said: The association of meat and fish consumption with colorectal cancer risk was independent from the reduction in risk associated with dietary fiber consumption that was observed in the same study population."

Colorectal cancer is the second most frequent cancer in men, after lung cancer, and in women, after breast cancer. More than one million cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed around the world in 2002, and over half a million people died from this disease.