Nowadays, vegetarianism is becoming more and more popular all over the world. At present, research shows that vegetarianism may reduce the overall cancer risk. However, which specific types of cancer are related to vegetarian diet? This article will take you to understand the correlation between vegetarian and non-vegetarian eating habits and cancer risk and specific cancer types.
A survey in Britain, 1, summed up 472337 participants (male 2 17937, female 254400), aged between 40 and 70.
Participants were divided into four groups according to their usual eating habits:
After an average of 1 1.4 years of follow-up, 5496 1 cases were diagnosed, including 5882 cases of colorectal cancer, 7537 cases of postmenopausal breast cancer and 950 cases of male prostate cancer. The results showed that the risk of cancer in common meat eaters was significantly higher than that in the other three groups, and eating a lot of meat may increase the risk of cancer (Figure 2). The specific comparison is as follows:
Compared with ordinary meat eaters, vegetarians, fish vegetarians and low meat eaters have lower overall cancer risk. Of course, the causes of some cancers may have little to do with diet or nutritional factors, so other lifestyle factors besides diet should also be considered. The statistical results of the overall cancer incidence rate only roughly estimate the correlation between eating habits and cancer risk.
Compared with ordinary meat eaters, low meat eaters have significantly lower risk of colorectal cancer. The World Health Organization and the World Cancer Research Foundation have taken the intake of processed meat as a clear reason to evaluate colorectal cancer, and red meat is the most risky meat. In addition, overweight and obesity also increase the risk of colorectal cancer.
Breast cancer is the most important type of cancer among women, and it is a highly heterogeneous disease. Postmenopausal status and hormone level have great influence on breast cancer. The statistical results show that the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer of vegetarians is significantly lower than that of ordinary meat eaters. The level of body mass index (BMI) is closely related to the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer, which may be due to the high circulating estrogen produced in adipose tissue. Vegetarians usually have a low body mass index, which may be the main reason why vegetarians have a low risk of breast cancer.
Among patients with prostate cancer, vegetarians and fish vegetarians have lower risk of prostate cancer than ordinary meat eaters, but there is no significant difference with low meat eaters. Some studies show that eating more dairy products may increase the risk of prostate cancer, which may be related to the mediation of IGF-I (insulin-like growth factor), which is considered to be a hormone positively related to milk intake and prostate cancer risk.
However, there is little difference in the concentration of insulin-like growth factor in this study group, indicating that it may not be the main factor leading to the risk of prostate cancer. However, in this study, vegetarians and fish vegetarians are different from ordinary meat eaters in many non-dieting lifestyles, such as low smoking and drinking and more physical activity, which may also be an important factor for their low risk of illness.
Generally speaking, this study found that low-meat eaters, fish vegetarians or vegetarians have a lower risk of cancer than ordinary meat eaters, which is the result of a combination of dietary factors and other lifestyles (such as smoking). In a word, the risk of colorectal cancer is lower in low-meat eaters, and the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer is lower in vegetarian women. Vegetarian and fish-only diets reduce the risk of prostate cancer in men.
Vegetarian diet is indeed a healthier way of eating, but if you are completely vegetarian, it is easy to lack high-quality protein and vitamins needed by the human body. Therefore, when we advocate vegetarianism, we should pay more attention to balanced nutrition, adopt a reasonable and scientific diet, improve bad living habits and strengthen exercise, so as to really play a role in preventing cancer.