Red meat intake may increase the risk of colon cancer in Japanese, a population with relatively low red meat consumption.

Colon cancer is more likely to occur in individuals who are high consumers of red meat than in those who rare- or non-consumers of red meat.

This study investigated the correlation between dietary ingestion of red meat and colon cancer risk in Japanese population. Using validated food frequency questionnaires, researchers examined the red meat intake of 80.658 Japanese men and women between the ages of 45-71 years for a duration of 8 years. The colon cancer hazard risk of all the participants in this study was also determined.

Researchers observed that subjects who ate the most amount of  red meat had greater risk of developing colon cancer than those who ate the least amount of red meat. The carcinogenic effect of red meat was found to be stronger in the proximal colon in women and in the distal colon in men. However, increased consumption of processed meats was found to have little or no effect on colon and rectal cancer risk in this study. The findings of this study support the hypothesis that high consumption of red meat may increase the incidence of colon cancer in Japanese population.