A study of 1.8 million people is the first to quantify how diet patterns affect the risk of different cancers
Vegetarians are up to a third less likely to get five types of cancer, the largest study of its kind has concluded.
A team at Oxford University looked at 1.8 million people, finding that those who did not eat meat were at a lower risk of developing several cancers, including breast and prostate.
They said “meat itself” was likely to be the problem, urging people to avoid processed meat and instead build meals around wholegrains, pulses, fruit and vegetables.
Compared with meat eaters, vegetarians have a 21 per cent lower risk of pancreatic cancer, a 9 per cent lower risk of breast cancer, a 12 per cent reduced risk of prostate cancer, 28 per cent lower risk of kidney cancer and 31 per cent lower risk of multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer.
In total, these cancers kill 41,800 people and account for 143,000 new cases in Britain each year.
However, it was not all good news for vegetarians: they were nearly twice as likely to get the most common type of oesophageal cancer, while vegans were at higher risk of bowel cancer. This was probably because they missed out on key nutrients such as calcium and vitamin B12 which could help protect against the disease, researchers said.
People who ate only poultry and no red meat had a slightly lower cancer risk than those who ate all types of meat.
The study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, pooled data from previous research involving 1.8 million people, mainly in the UK and US, who were tracked for two decades and completed food questionnaires to assess their diets.