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Commentary
Another Cancer Link
This letter to the editor ran Nov. 18, 2006 in the Ledger-Enquirer.
To the Editor:
A new scientific analysis may have women rethinking what they eat: red meat, which has long been associated with colon cancer, is now linked to a greater risk of breast cancer.
This analysis, published in a recent issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, examined more than 90,000 pre-menopausal women in Harvard's Nurses' Health Study II. The women who consumed one and a half or more servings of red meat per day had nearly double the risk of developing hormone receptor-positive breast cance r-- the most common type of breast cancer -- than women consuming three or less servings of red meat per week. Researchers believe this connection may be due to carcinogens that form when meat is cooked at high temperatures, growth hormones given to cattle, and red meat's high fat and heme iron content, which can increase estrogen-dependent tumor growth.
Avoiding red meat, chicken and other fatty foods may lower our risk of various cancers. It also gives us room to fill our plates with cancer-fighting-foods, like tomatoes, broccoli, black beans, and other low-fat, vegetarian fare.
Sincerely,
Jennifer K. Reilly, R.D.
Senior Nutritionist
The Cancer Project
5100 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., Ste. 400
Washington, DC 20016-4131
202-244-5038 x318 (phone)
jreilly@cancerproject.org
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