For several years, red meat has been implicated in various pathologies such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease or cancer. This time, a new study conducted by American researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (United States), have just clearly identified the damage caused on DNA by a diet very high in red meat.
For this study, scientists have sequenced DNA from 900 colorectal cancer patients and already being followed by doctors in other research. Their research revealed that they carried a specific DNA mutation called alkylation. This mutation was significantly associated with the consumption of red meat (both processed and unprocessed) before the onset of the disease. But the researchers did not find it in consumers of poultry or fish.
Blame it on the heme iron?
It is heme iron, present in meat, which is singled out by scientists. Composed of an atom of iron and proteins, it gives this red color to the meat. During digestion, it is transformed into a compound toxic to our cells: aldehyde. This promotes mutations in DNA and causes the death of cells in the colon and rectum.
But beware, the researchers specify that it is not a question of completely stopping eating red meat, but rather to eat it “in moderation” because the highest levels of alkylation were seen only in tumors of patients eating on average more than 150 grams of red meat per day.
Similar results in Great Britain
This is not the first study to present such results. In 2018, researchers at the University of Leeds, UK, assessed the impact of red meat, poultry, fish or a vegetarian diet on the development of colon cancer in women. . The results of their study were published in theInternational Journal of Cancer.
Scientists had recruited a cohort of more than 32,000 women from England, Wales and Scotland between 1995 and 1998, whom they had followed for an average of 17 years. A total of 462 cases of colorectal cancer had been recorded. The researchers then found that women who ate red meat had higher rates of colon cancer than vegetarians.
Remember that the Cancer Research Institute recommends not to exceed 500 grams of red meat per week.
Sources:
- Discovery and features of an alkylating signature in colorectal cancer, Cancer discovery, June 2021
- Common dietary patterns and risk of cancers of the colon and rectum: Analysis from the United Kingdom Women’s Cohort Study, International journal of cancer, March 2018
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