FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Melissa Slagle, 303-867-6306; mslagle@beefboard.org
Wrangling
Science: Red Meat and Cancer
“Available scientific evidence” fails to
support independent association, report says.
As a
continuation of beef checkoff efforts to examine the
totality of the evidence on the subject of red meat
and cancer, the “Red Meat and Processed Meat Consumption and Cancer: A
Technical Summary of the Epidemiologic Evidence” was released to members of the
Human Nutrition Research Committee during the Cattle Industry’s Annual
Convention in San Antonio.
Cancer is
the second-leading cause of death (after heart disease) in the United States;
about one in every three Americans will be diagnosed with some type of caner in
their lifetime. While the specific cause(s) of most cancer is still unknown,
researchers believe it stems from genetic, lifestyle, infectious and
environmental factors, and usually develops over several years or even decades.
That reality adds to the difficulty in identifying the underlying factors
involved in carcinogenesis, states author and leading epidemiologist, Dr. Dominik Alexander, PhD, MSPH.
Even with
these challenges, Alexander goes on to say, “…no mechanism for red meat has
been established as being responsible for increasing the risk of cancer in
human studies and …the totality of available scientific evidence is not
supportive of an independent association between red meat and processed meat
and cancer.”
This technical
summary reviews the fundamental basis of the science of epidemiology (the study
of the occurrence of disease in human populations) and its applicability in
critically evaluating the associations between red and processed meat and
cancer across the published literature. This assessment includes a
comprehensive evaluation of hundreds of epidemiologic studies across all types
of cancer.
“This
will serve as a comprehensive resource on the epidemiologic associations of red
meat and processed meat and cancer for industry stake holders, nutrition
scientists, educators and communicators. It concludes the available
epidemiologic evidence is not supportive of a causal relationship between red
meat and any of the cancers evaluated,” says Shalene
McNeill, PhD, RD, executive director of nutrition research with the National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), a beef checkoff
contractor.
The beef
and pork checkoffs joined forces to fund the
development of this report, which is the first large-scale review of this
topic. The piece was prepared by Health Sciences Practice, Exponent Inc., under
the direction of principal investigator Dominik
Alexander, PhD, MSPH.
Click here
to read an overview.
The
Technical Summary will be available for purchase in February at a cost of
$30.00 through the NCBA Customer Service department. For purchasing information
please call 303-368-3138.
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The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm
Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale
of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on
imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and
forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and
Research Board, which administers the national checkoff
program, subject to USDA approval.