Is red meat dangerous?

The Superior Health Council advises eating less red meat due to an increased risk of colon cancer. How should we interpret this news?

In our country, approximately 8,000 people develop colon cancer every year. Colon cancer is mainly caused by genetic factors, obesity, smoking and lack of exercise.

The average Belgian eats almost 100 grams of red meat and charcuterie per day. If this were limited to 50 grams, there would be 1200 fewer cases of colon cancer every year. People who do not eat red meat and are 50 years or older have an annual risk of 0.17% of developing colon cancer. With red meat that chance increases to 0.20%.

But eating red meat also has advantages: it contains a lot of proteins, iron, zinc, selenium and vitamin B. According to the nutritional triangle, we should eat 75 to 100 grams of meat, fish or eggs every day. This will not change, but it is desirable to eat more white meat such as poultry and fish twice a week.

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bies.202000056

Author: Prof. Dr. Dirk Devroey - Latest update: 2023-12-11 - Copyright: Clinifacts 2025