Red meat intake and cancer risk: A study in Italy

Meat intake has been positively associated with risk of digestive tract can cers in several epidemiological studies, while data on the relation of meat intake with cancer risk at most other sites are inconsistent. The overall data set, derived from an integrated series of case-control studies conduct ed in northern Italy between 1983 and 1996, included the following incident , histologically confirmed neoplasms: oral cavity, pharynx and esophagus (n = 497), stomach (n = 745), colon (n = 828), rectum (n = 498), liver (n = 4 28), gallbladder (n = 60), pancreas (n = 362), larynx (n = 242), breast (n = 3,412), endometrium (n = 750), ovary (n = 971), prostate (n = 127), bladd er (n = 431), kidney (n = 190), thyroid (n = 208), Hodgkin's disease (n = 8 0), non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (n = 200) and multiple myelomas (n = 120), Cont rols were 7,990 patients admitted to hospital for acute, non-neoplastic con ditions unrelated to long-term modifications in diet. The multivariate odds ratios (ORs) for the highest tertile of red meat intake (greater than or e qual to 7 times/week) compared with the lowest (less than or equal to 3 tim es/week) were 1.6 for stomach, 1.9 for colon, 1.7 for rectal, 1.6 for pancr eatic, 1.6 for bladder, 1.2 for breast, 1.5 for endometrial and 1.3 for ova rian cancer. ORs showed no significant heterogeneity across strata of age a t diagnosis and sex. No convincing relation with red meat intake emerged fo r cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx and esophagus, liver, gallbladder, la rynx, kidney, thyroid, prostate, Hodgkin's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and multiple myeloma. For none of the neoplasms considered was there a sig nificant inverse relationship with red meat intake. Thus, reducing red meat intake might lower the risk for several common neoplasms. (C) 2000 Wiley-L iss, Inc.