Eating chicken rather than red meat could lower breast cancer risk
A new study has concluded that substituting chicken and other poultry for red meat may bring down the risk of breast cancer.
Red meat refers to the flesh obtained from cows, pigs and lambs, that is, beef, pork and lamb/mutton respectively. These contain more of the muscle protein called myoglobin which carries oxygen to the muscle tissue, similar to hemoglobin in the blood. The presence of myoglobin contributes to the red color. Processed red meats also contain a high sodium content, and other factors like nitrates and nitrites, which may break down into carcinogenic molecules after consumption.
While eating red meat has at various times been considered as a risk factor in the causation of breast cancer, data has been lacking to validate this hypothesis. Different studies have not produced consistent results to either confirm or deny the presence of such an association. The current study was aimed at finding a possible association between red meat eating and the risk of developing a new invasive breast cancer.
It looked at the different types of meat eaten by more than 42,000 women, over a period of about 7.5 years, on average. Cooking meat at high temperatures has been shown to produce various compounds such as heterocyclic amines, which induce mutations in the body’s cells. Thus the use of various methods of cooking meat in this population was also examined. This was by completing a Food Frequency Questionnaire when they enrolled in the Sister Study.
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