The results of a huge study involving over 60,000 people in Britain have just been published in the British Journal of Cancer. The results? “The incidence of some cancers may be lower in fish eaters and vegetarians than in meat eaters.” The incidence of some of those cancers is lower by 45%. One particular rare cancer was 75% less common in vegetarians.

The BJC’s official conclusion downplays these extraordinary results because the overall incidence of cancer was only 12% less in vegetarians than omnivores and it is unknown how many other factors were involved. Nevertheless, that’s a substantial difference, and worth remembering when considering your dietary choices.

Elsewhere in the same issue of the BJC, a study of over 50,000 women found that “red meat, MeIQx, and dietary iron elevated the risk of invasive breast cancer, but there was no linear trend in the association except for dietary iron.” MeIQx is a known carcinogen that is found in cooked meat. Certainly these two studies taken together should make us consider reducing if not eliminating our intake of red meat. It is interesting that iron was implicated, since most experts recommend iron supplementation for women.

In a third study of a half million people, the National Institutes of Health found that a fatty diet with lots of saturated fat from meat and dairy products was linked to pancreatic cancer. Three strikes for meat in one day. Nevertheless, “In an accompanying editorial, two prominent cancer researchers praised the NIH team, although they noted that more research would be necessary to definitively prove a direct link between fat intake and pancreatic cancer.”