Switching to chicken may lower cancer risk

Good news for women who can’t quite bring themselves to go vegetarian, but don’t mind giving up burgers and steaks: A new study finds red meat may increase breast cancer risk, while substituting poultry may lower it.

The study, published in the International Journal of Cancer, looked for links between meat consumption patterns and the incidence of breast cancer in 42,012 women from the U.S. and Puerto Rico who were followed for an average of 7.6 years.

During that period, 1,536 invasive breast cancers were diagnosed. The researchers, led by Columbia University epidemiologist Jamie J. Lo, found that women who consumed the most red meat — a quarter of a pound or more per day — had a 23% higher risk of invasive breast cancer compared with women who consumed the lowest amount. Meanwhile, women with the highest consumption of poultry had a 15% lower risk than those with the lowest consumption.

Using mathematical models to add or substitute meats, the researchers found breast cancer risk was further reduced by swapping poultry (chicken, turkey, hens, duck, goose or game birds) for red meat (beef, veal, pork, lamb and game meat).

The magnitude of the effects, good or bad, on breast cancer risk was relatively small. And the new study is just the latest to weigh in on an unsettled area of research. While many studies suggest vegetarian diets are a good strategy to ward off a number of cancers, particularly colon cancer, the association between red meat consumption and breast cancer risk has been inconsistent.