Meat, Soda Linked with Cancers, Gout

NEW studies have confirmed that red meat consumption increases the risk of both stomach and esophageal cancer. The study conducted by researchers from the nonprofits World Cancer Research Fund and Cancer Research, was published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Also, according to a study conducted by researchers from Boston University and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, regular soda consumption significantly increases women’s risk of gout.

Gout is a painful type of inflammatory arthritis that has become increasingly common in the past few decades.

The researchers in the red meat study questioned 494,979 U.S. residents between the ages of 50 and 71 about their lifestyle and diet habits, including consumption of red meat and their favored cooking methods, then followed them for approximately 10 years.

They found that after adjusting for potentially confounding factors such as age, exercise, smoking and weight, participants who ate the most red meat had a 79 per cent higher risk of developing a cancer of the upper esophagus known as esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Participants who ate the most food containing higher levels of one type of heterocyclic amine (HCA) had a 44 per cent higher risk of a cancer of the upper stomach known as gastric cardia.

HCAs are carcinogens formed when meat is cooked at high temperature. The HCA monitored in the study is called DiMelQx.

Prior studies looking for a link have had mixed results because they failed to look at different varieties of stomach and esophageal cancer separately, the researchers said. No connection was found between red meat consumption and other such cancers, which have separate risk factors. Adenocarcinoma of the lower esophagus, for example, is more strongly linked to smoking and heavy drinking.

High red meat consumption has also been linked to other severe health problems, including heart disease and other forms of cancer.

The researchers in the soda and gout research studied 78,906 women who had taken part in the Nurses’ Health Study between 1984 and 2006 and who had no history of gout at the beginning of the study. They found that over the course of 22 years, women who consumed one serving of soda per day were 74 per cent more likely to develop gout than those who had less than one per month. Women who drank two or more servings of soda per day were 240 per cent more likely.

A connection between soda consumption and gout is not surprising because fructose, a component of sugar, causes the body to produce more uric acid. Uric acid buildup is the immediate cause of gout.

Sugary beverages are widely reviled by nutritionists as a source of empty calories that raises the risk of obesity and diabetes.