Can eating meat cause cancer?

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the WHO, reviewed more than 800 studies that examined the link between meat and cancer. The research included people from around the world, of different races and those on different types of diets. The authors concluded that each three-ounce portion of red meat eaten daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer (and in some cases pancreatic and prostate) by 17 percent.

For every 1.5-ounce portion of processed meat eaten daily, the risk of colorectal cancer increases by 18 percent. Red meat (beef, veal, pork, lamb, goat) was placed in the category “probably carcinogenic to humans” and processed meat (bacon, sausage, hot dogs) placed in the “carcinogenic to humans” group.