There are many risk factors that can increase the chances of suffering from breast cancer such as tobacco, alcohol, age, family history … Now, a new study published in the British Medical Journal concludes that consuming a lot of red meat can be another one of them.
The work, carried out by a team of researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (USA), analyzed data from 88,803 premenopausal women (between 26 and 45 years old) from the 1991 Nurses Health Study II , who were followed for 20 years . Throughout that period, experts identified 2,830 cases of breast cancer. According to the records, high consumption of red meat products during early adulthood was associated with a 22% increased risk of breast cancer .
In contrast, higher consumption of poultry products (such as chicken) during early adulthood was associated with a lower incidence of breast cancer; Specifically, substituting an 85 gram serving of red meat per day for chicken meat reduced the risk of breast cancer by 17% .
In addition, the researchers found that replacing a serving of red meat a day with another protein-rich food such as legumes, fish or nuts, resulted in a 14% lower risk of breast cancer.
