Regular consumption of chicken increased the risk of digestive system cancer. This contradicts previous beliefs that chicken is not associated with a higher risk of cancer, unlike pork or beef. However, the researchers did not yet take into account how the chicken was cooked or how physically active the study participants were, which also affect cancer risk. Research published in the journal Nutrients.
Researchers analyzed cancer incidence and mortality among nearly 5,000 Italians who participated in a health study and completed questionnaires about their diet and lifestyle. The analysis compared data for people who consumed different amounts of red meat, i.e. pork and beef, poultry, mostly chicken, and meat in general, during the week.
It turned out that consuming more than 300 grams of poultry per week increased the risk of death from all causes by 27 percent compared to consuming less than 100 grams.
Consuming this amount of poultry meat was also associated with a more than two-fold increased risk of death from digestive system cancer, and in men this risk was 2,61 times greater than in those who ate less than 100 grams of such meat per week.
However, consuming 200-300 grams of various types of meat per week reduced this risk by 54 percent. Further research will help to find out which types of meat are still more associated with cancer and how to reduce the risk of this disease through dietary changes.
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