I wasn’t referring to that, I was referring to WHO’s List of agents Carcinogenic to humans, However, I had misremembered. Processed meat is on the “Carcinogenic to humans” list, red meat is on the “Probably carcinogenic to humans” list.
Other notable things on the carcinogenic list are alcohol, lots of different infections (such as HPV or HIV), air polution, solar radiation (e.g. UV light), tobacco smoke (second hand smoke is also separately listed), and asbestos and other various workplace exposure items like deisel fumes or coal dust.
Some notable things on the “Probably” list are household wood burning, high-temperature fried food, night shift work, red meat consumption, and drinking beverages above 65°C.
As an example of evidence about red meat, this study found:
Red meat consumption was significantly associated with greater risk of breast cancer (RR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.03–1.15), endometrial cancer (RR = 1.25; 95% CI = 1.01-1.56), colorectal cancer (RR = 1.10; 95% CI = 1.03–1.17), colon cancer (RR = 1.17; 95% CI = 1.09-1.25), rectal cancer (RR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.01-1.46), lung cancer (RR = 1.26; 95% CI = 1.09–1.44), and hepatocellular carcinoma (RR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.01-1.46).
The study looked at both processed and unprecessed red meat, and the risk was higher with processed meat, but there was still an increased cancer risk for unprocessed red meat.
There are other studies that find weak or no risk when looking at some specific cancer types, and with different focus areas, so it seems the specifics are not well understood.
I wasn’t referring to that, I was referring to WHO’s List of agents Carcinogenic to humans, However, I had misremembered. Processed meat is on the “Carcinogenic to humans” list, red meat is on the “Probably carcinogenic to humans” list.
Other notable things on the carcinogenic list are alcohol, lots of different infections (such as HPV or HIV), air polution, solar radiation (e.g. UV light), tobacco smoke (second hand smoke is also separately listed), and asbestos and other various workplace exposure items like deisel fumes or coal dust.
Some notable things on the “Probably” list are household wood burning, high-temperature fried food, night shift work, red meat consumption, and drinking beverages above 65°C.
As an example of evidence about red meat, this study found:
The study looked at both processed and unprecessed red meat, and the risk was higher with processed meat, but there was still an increased cancer risk for unprocessed red meat.
There are other studies that find weak or no risk when looking at some specific cancer types, and with different focus areas, so it seems the specifics are not well understood.