Studies showing a link between heavy meat consumption and cancer have been very prevalent in the news lately. A new study conducted by Dr. Xifeng Wu and colleagues at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston made the news this Monday, November 9, 2015 and this time, it’s related to kidney cancer.
According to NBC News, Dr. Wu studied “659 patients just diagnosed with kidney cancer and compared them to 699 similar people without cancer.” Wu’s team wanted to analyze the link between the cancer and meat consumption, as well as the factors that may or may not explain the link.
The health journal “Cancer” declared that people who consumed the most red meat and poultry alike have a higher risk of developing kidney cancer. These people also ate fewer fruits and vegetables than the national average. Though this statement is not untrue, health professionals are still unsure of why this occurs.
Wu’s team attempted to discern a link in the cause based on the analysis of “2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenyl-imidazo(4,5-b) pyridine (PhIP for short ) and amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo(4,5-f) quinoxaline (MeIQx for short).”
“Kidney cancer is among the 10 most common cancers in both men and women,” says the American Cancer Society. “For reasons that are not totally clear, the rate of new kidney cancers has been rising since the 1990s.”
Wu’s team is rather certain that the rise is due to the increasing consumption of red and processed meats, though their research is still a work in process.
Before anything is known for certain regarding the subject, Wu urges Americans to be wary of their meat intake.