Stake Your Life On A Healthy Piece Of Red Meat

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday June 18, 2005

Now we are being told that eating too much meat a day can cause bowel cancer ("Study confirms meat and cancer link", Herald, June 16). Once upon a time we were told that we needed to eat meat, which is a natural iron supplement. So what do we do? Stop eating meat - no bowel cancer, but suffer from anaemia instead.

Carolyn Wills Cremorne

In the report's detail it is clear that red meat as we define it in Australia - beef and lamb - is not a significant risk factor in the occurrence of colorectal cancer.

However, the report does associate processed meats such as ham, bacon and preserved sausage with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, and as such the consumption of processed meats should be limited.

Regular consumption of lean red meat makes a very significant contribution in terms of essential nutrients, including iron, zinc, B12 and protein.

The National Health and Medical Research Council recommends three to four serves of lean red meat (beef and lamb) per week as part of a healthy, balanced Australian diet.

David Thomason general manager,

Marketing, Meat & Livestock

Australia, North Sydney

Whereas the study suggests that two servings of red meat per day equates to 160 grams, we Aussie carnivores rarely have a steak less than 200 grams. In fact, many restaurants offer steaks of 300 and 400 grams. If we do eat only 73 grams of meat daily, well below the high-risk threshold, I wonder why our bowel cancer rate is so high.

So people consuming two out of three main meals of red meat have a significantly higher bowel cancer risk. A very different slant.

Dr Ashley Berry Toolijooa

The study shows the rate of cancer in both the eaters of the least meat and the most fish is 13 out of every 1000 people. This increases to 17 in every 1000 for those who eat the most meat, and 18.6 per 1000 for those who eat the least fish.

Sure, that is a 30 per cent increase, but then an increase from one to two is a 100 per cent increase. The other small detail omitted was that the meat intake included processed meat. These have been shown in numerous studies to be implicated in triggering bowel cancer.

The bottom line is that people should avoid processed and packaged meats.

Peter Elliott Cootamundra