October 15, 2018

Red meat and Cancer

Dashain, biggest Hindu festival of the year, is just around corner. On the occasion, people perform religious rituals and offer worship to goddess at various shrines by offering sacrifices of different animals.

Meat of sacrificed animal is eaten throughout the festival. But eating meat, especially Red meat, to a certain level can be very dangerous to the human body. Red meat refers to all mammalian muscle meat, including, beef, buff, pork, lamb, mutton, goat etc.

Red meat was classified as Group 2A, probably carcinogenic to humans by World Health Organization (WHO). The strongest, but still limited, evidence for an association with eating red meat is for colorectal cancer. There is also evidence of links with pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer.

Eating meat has known health benefits as well. Many national health recommendations advise people to limit intake of processed meat and red meat, which are linked to increased risks of death from heart disease, diabetes, and other illnesses.

Here are the facts on what kinds of meat are ok and how much you should be eating.