bowel cancer tagged posts

An uncooked rib roast. Credit: Michael C. Berch/Wikipedia

Sausages, ham and other processed meats cause bowel cancer, and red meat “probably” does too, a UN agency warned Monday, in a potentially heavy blow for the fast-growing livestock industry.

A review of 800 studies from around the world found “sufficient evidence in humans that the consumption of processed meat causes colorectal cancer,” said the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The finding, it added, supports “recommendations to limit intake of meat”—particularly in processed forms.

The category includes meat that has been salted, cured, fermented or smoked—hot dogs, sausages, corned beef, dried meat like beef jerky or South African biltong, canned meat or meat-based sauces.

For every 50 grammes (1...

Previous research looked at high doses of purified resveratrol to study its potential to prevent cancer. This is the first study to look at the effects of a lower daily dose – equivalent to the amount of resveratrol found in one large (approx. 250ml) glass of red wine vs dose 200X higher. Results from bowel cancer-prone mice given the smaller dose showed a 50% reduction in tumour size while the high dose showed a 25% reduction. Lower doses of resveratrol were twice as effective as the higher dose in stopping tumours growing, although this effect was only seen in animals fed a high-fat diet.

Samples of tumours from bowel cancer patients given different doses of resveratrol showed that even lower doses can get into cancer cells and potentially affect processes involved in tumour growth...