Few prospective studies have examined cancer incidence among vegetarians, but new findings from Oxford have thrown up a surprise finding for vegetarians who spurn meat on health grounds.
Researchers with the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom have reported cancer incidence among vegetarians and non-vegetarians in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition–Oxford (EPIC-Oxford) study.
This was a prospective study of 63,550 men and women recruited throughout the UK in the 1990s.
Cancer incidence was followed through nationwide cancer registries.
Results of the study were presented at the fifth International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition in 2008 and were published in a recent edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The researchers said the overall cancer incidence rates of both the vegetarians and the non-vegetarians in this study are low compared with national rates in the UK.
Within the study, the incidence of all cancers combined was lower among vegetarians than among meat eaters, but the incidence of colorectal cancer was higher in vegetarians than in meat eaters.
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