SynthesisEuropean journal of epidemiology2021
Consumption of red meat and processed meat and cancer incidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies.
Synthesis in European journal of epidemiology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 236 papers, 19 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
236 citing papers in PubMed, 19 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 407 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mindfulness and sustainable diets: a meta-analysis and CONutrition journal · 2026Pooled it
- Vegetarian and vegan diets and cancer incidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies.European journal of epidemiology · 2026Pooled it
- Association between EAT-Lancet diet adherence and cancer incidence/mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- The Association of Dietary Diabetes Risk Reduction Score and the Risk of Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Dietary factors and colorectal cancer risk in Asian populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2025Pooled it
- Recent Advancements in Known and Emerging Risk Factors of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.Cancer medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic Analysis of the Differential Effects of Red Meat on Colorectal Cancer Risks: A Meta-Analytic Approach.Journal of gastrointestinal cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Association between red and processed meat consumption and colorectal cancer risk: a comprehensive meta-analysis of prospective studies.GeroScience · 2025Pooled it
- Dietary patterns and colorectal cancer risk: Global Cancer Update Programme (CUP Global) systematic literature review.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Risk factors for breast cancer: an umbrella review of observational cohort studies and causal relationship analysis.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The association between empirical dietary inflammatory pattern and risk of cancer and cancer-specific mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Pooled it
- Adherence to Data-Driven Dietary Patterns and Lung Cancer Risk: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- Associations between plant-based dietary patterns and risks of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Nutrition journal · 2023Pooled it
- Association of meat consumption with the risk of gastrointestinal cancers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC cancer · 2023Pooled it
- 2022 Update on Prostate Cancer Epidemiology and Risk Factors-A Systematic Review.European urology · 2023Pooled it
- How to Keep the Balance between Red and Processed Meat Intake and Physical Activity Regarding Mortality: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- The association between red, processed and white meat consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2023Pooled it
- Association between ultra-processed foods and risk of cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Change to a Plant-Based Diet Has No Effect on Strength Performance in Trained Persons in the First 8 Weeks-A 16-Week Controlled Pilot Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
176 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Red meat and processed meat consumption has been hypothesized to increase risk of cancer, but the evidence is inconsistent. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies to summarize the evidence of associations between consumption of red meat (unprocessed), processed meat, and total red and processed meat with the incidence of various cancer types. We searched in MEDLINE and EMBASE databases through December 2020. Using a random-effect meta-analysis, we calculated the pooled relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of the highest versus the lowest category of red meat, processed meat, and total red and processed meat consumption in relation to incidence of various cancers. We identified 148 published articles. Red meat consumption was significantly associated with greater risk of breast cancer (RR = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.03-1.15), endometrial cancer (RR = 1.25; 95% CI = 1.01-1.56), colorectal cancer (RR = 1.10; 95% CI = 1.03-1.17), colon cancer (RR = 1.17; 95% CI = 1.09-1.25), rectal cancer (RR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.01-1.46), lung cancer (RR = 1.26; 95% CI = 1.09-1.44), and hepatocellular carcinoma (RR = 1.22; 95% CI = 1.01-1.46). Processed meat consumption was significantly associated with a 6% greater breast cancer risk, an 18% greater colorectal cancer risk, a 21% greater colon cancer risk, a 22% greater rectal cancer risk, and a 12% greater lung cancer risk. Total red and processed meat consumption was significantly associated with greater risk of colorectal cancer (RR = 1.17; 95% CI = 1.08-1.26), colon cancer (RR = 1.21; 95% CI = 1.09-1.34), rectal cancer (RR = 1.26; 95% CI = 1.09-1.45), lung cancer (RR = 1.20; 95% CI = 1.09-1.33), and renal cell cancer (RR = 1.19; 95% CI = 1.04-1.37). This comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis study showed that high red meat intake was positively associated with risk of breast cancer, endometrial cancer, colorectal cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, lung cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma, and high processed meat intake was positively associated with risk of breast, colorectal, colon, rectal, and lung cancers. Higher risk of colorectal, colon, rectal, lung, and renal cell cancers were also observed with high total red and processed meat consumption.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.