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Following the World Health’s Organization’s (WHO) shocking warning about read meat as “probably carcinogenic”, a colorectal surgeon in London revealed that you’re more likely to get bowel cancer from eating chocolates rather than red meat.
Roger Leicester, a colorectal surgeon at St George’s Hospital in London, explained why chocolates can more likely be a culprit for cancer as compared to red meat.
In his interview with The Daily Mail UK, Leicester stressed that there has been no clear published proof that red meat indeed causes cancer. Cutting out red meat in your diet may even cause iron deficiency, the expert warned.
“The next time you feel guilty about chomping on a juicy steak, don’t. In fact, in my opinion, chocolate could be more of a danger.”
“Very high intakes of sugar and saturated fat are much more of a problem, but no one ever suggests we should give up chocolate, which is laden with sugar loaded with fat,” he said.
According to Leicester, a study conducted on the Seventh Day Adventists in the 1970’s most likely started the scare stories on meat consumption. Members of the Seventh Day Adventists, who are vegetarians, had slightly lower risk of bowel cancer compared to the general population.
However, Leicester claimed that the study isn’t a clear proof that meat causes cancer since Seventh Day Adventists don’t smoke or drink alcohol. Moreover, most of them tend to avoid spices, hot condiments as well as coffee.
Stressing that dietary studies are “notoriously inaccurate”, Leicester pointed out that some studies don’t take into account lifestyle factors as well as the way foods are cooked.
“By far the most effective way to reduce your risk of bowel cancer is to investigate any symptoms, such as rectal bleeding, and take part in the screening programme when you are invited to,” Leicester suggested.
