Vegetarians have ‘substantially lower risk’ of five types of cancer, a major study found (www.theguardian.com)
from Adanac@sh.itjust.works to world@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 08:54
https://sh.itjust.works/post/55989631

#world

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inari@piefed.zip on 27 Feb 2026 09:14 next collapse

At this point we’re beating a dead horseradish. Pretty much every study says the less meat, the healthier

Buffalox@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 09:30 next collapse

Vegans had a 40% higher risk of bowel cancer when compared with meat eaters.

Regarding vegetarians and cancer yes, but most studies show that a moderate intake of meat is beneficial to your OVERALL health. And this study does NOT show that less meat the better.
Also a lot of studies including this one, show that some nutrients are hard to obtain as a vegan, so you need supplements to stay healthy. Especially if you are Vegan.

I don’t think you read the article, but just had a knee jerk reaction to the headline.

wheezy@lemmy.ml on 27 Feb 2026 09:33 next collapse

I’m not the person you responded to. But I feel personally attacked by your last sentence. How dare you. That is the way of the internet comment section. What kind of world would we live in if people actually read the article?

Buffalox@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 09:40 collapse

Yes I am aware that this is a cultural thing among many people. And responses by people that read the article can seem confusing.
Admittedly I do it myself sometimes, but in this case that regards peoples health, I think a clarification was in place. 😋

blackn1ght@feddit.uk on 27 Feb 2026 09:42 next collapse

Do we know what moderate means?

Buffalox@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 09:53 collapse

Here it means less than 150g per day. But there is no minimum recommendation AFAIK, probably because most people eat too much.
So optimal amount is a bit murky. It probably also varies depending of what types of meat you eat. It is generally understood that chicken is better for your health than red meat.

a4ng3l@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 19:22 collapse

150gr is moderate ?! Daaaaamn. TIL our family is moderate as fuck then. More than 150 is just not feeling okay. We are pushing to 200 when it’s steak day. I’m curious what’s the average now.

Buffalox@lemmy.world on 28 Feb 2026 12:31 collapse

en.wikipedia.org/…/List_of_countries_by_meat_cons…

I live in Denmark, and we were highest on meat consumption in 2002, but in 2020 the amount of meat consumed per person was cut by more than half!
So the highest number was in 2002 with 146 kg per year per person, or 397 gr per day, more than double the recommendation on average!
Supermarkets here are making smaller packages, and beef is now taxed to reduce consumption of that in particular. Also because it is considered more environmentally harmful than other types of meat.

[deleted] on 27 Feb 2026 10:00 collapse
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Buffalox@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 10:07 next collapse

Yes the calcium part is outright weird? Regarding B vitamin I think it’s some specific B vitamins like B12, definitely not all of them.
I think there may have been some journalistic misunderstanding, because it is mentioned in context with Vegans, while the article also seems to lump the 2 together at times. Which is a problem IMO, because there’s a huge difference between Vegetarian that drink milk and eat fish and eggs, and a Vegan that eat zero animal products.

Soulcreator@programming.dev on 27 Feb 2026 13:12 next collapse

I agree with everything you said, except for one point. Vegetarians by definition do not eat fish, pescatarian is likely the word you are looking for as they eat everything you listed with the inclusion of fish.

Buffalox@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 13:33 collapse

Ah ok I thought fish was included, because I’ve known some who call themselves vegetarians who eat fish.

Soulcreator@programming.dev on 27 Feb 2026 14:13 collapse

It’s a common misunderstanding, not exactly sure where it stems from. When I was a vegetarian many years ago it wouldn’t be uncommon for people to offer me fish.

bramkaandorp@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 22:55 collapse

Maybe it comes from the distinction between meat and fish that stems from fasting in Catholicism.

Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 27 Feb 2026 19:40 collapse

Vegetarians don’t drink milk or eat fish and eggs

[deleted] on 28 Feb 2026 05:10 next collapse
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Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 28 Feb 2026 20:30 collapse

Lacto-ovo-vegetarians aren’t vegetarians, they’re carnists

FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca on 04 Mar 2026 14:36 collapse

You’ve confused the term vegetarian with vegan. Vegetarians just don’t eat meat and fish, vegans don’t eat any animal products (no milk, eggs, or honey)

Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 04 Mar 2026 18:05 collapse

Vegans follow a vegetarian diet, but it’s far from only being about diet. Lacto-ovo-vegetarians call themselves vegetarians because they are in denial about their own carnism

FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca on 04 Mar 2026 18:53 next collapse

I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. Vegetarian diets and vegan diets aren’t the same

Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 04 Mar 2026 20:44 collapse

Most so-called “vegetarians” are nothing of the sort. Most actual vegetarians are vegans. Lacto-ovo-vegetarianism is a self-soothing delusion.

FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca on 04 Mar 2026 22:22 collapse

By definition, if they don’t eat meat, they’re vegetarian. I get that you believe it moral hypocrisy to eat cheese and eggs if vegetarian but they are still, by definition, vegetarian

Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 05 Mar 2026 04:30 collapse

Sorry I didn’t know definitions were ordained by God

FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca on 05 Mar 2026 08:49 collapse

You don’t get to gatekeep who is vegetarian just because you don’t like the widely accepted definition. That’s like insisting only acute triangles are triangles. There is a distinction between vegetarian and vegan specifically because vegans avoid eggs, dairy, and honey.

FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca on 04 Mar 2026 18:56 collapse

It sounds like you think the only options are veganism (which you call vegetarianism) or carnism

Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 04 Mar 2026 20:42 collapse

Vegetarianism is a diet, veganism is a philosophy. Lacto-ovo-vegetarianism is a self-soothing delusion.

FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca on 04 Mar 2026 22:20 collapse

No, they both describe diets. One refrains from eating meat, the other refrains from eating all animal products

Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 05 Mar 2026 04:25 collapse

www.vegansociety.com/…/definition-veganism

Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.

fallaciousBasis@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 22:21 collapse

Not at forms of calcium are the same.

GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 11:28 next collapse

And how many of the studies did you actually read?

My guess it’s zero

inari@piefed.zip on 27 Feb 2026 11:37 next collapse

I’m not an expert in the field, reading it wouldn’t help me discern much. That’s why we typically rely on recommendations from expert bodies, who review the literature and understand it.

GreenBeanMachine@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 13:10 collapse

“I’m not an expert in the field but I know that pretty much every study says the less meat, the healthier”.

So how do you know if you haven’t read the studies and are not an expert?

inari@piefed.zip on 27 Feb 2026 14:06 collapse

News reporting

SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org on 27 Feb 2026 15:06 collapse

This topic got you all triggered, huh?

LwL@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 12:22 next collapse

Which studies? A quick search doesn’t seem to confirm that at all. From checking some of those studies, there seems to be a weak/low certainty correlation of lower meat consumption with lower cancer risks, a correlation (with geographical differences) of meat consumption with being overweight, but also other factors like smoking and low physical activity which really call into question whether other studies took that into account, and also a correlation between higher meat consumption and lower risk for depression (which I would also call into question given meat consumption’s correlation with high socioeconomic status).

All I can get from those metastudies is a big nothing burger of “maybe”'s in either direction.

hector@lemmy.today on 27 Feb 2026 13:03 collapse

Except it’s not meat itself, but contaminants in the meat.

SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org on 27 Feb 2026 15:05 collapse

“It’s not the cigarette I smoke, it’s all the bad chemicals in the cigarette” Big brain time over here

hector@lemmy.today on 27 Feb 2026 15:09 collapse

If they put a shitload of glyphosate on corn, it’s not corn that gives you leukemia, it’s the glyphosate, ya smarmy axe grinder.

xep@discuss.online on 27 Feb 2026 15:13 collapse

The bad news about glyphosate is it’s apparently on everything. It’s at the point where it may be confounding experiments that haven’t controlled for its presence.

hector@lemmy.today on 27 Feb 2026 18:02 collapse

That is just one of many, the second most used herbicide, atrazine, is in all the municipal water systems too, testing is done in spring usually when the water table is high, but in the fall when the water table is lower it returns higher values of pollutants. But atrazine is a potent endocrine disruptor, one of many out there.

Marcomunista@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 27 Feb 2026 12:05 next collapse

Okay, but who wants to live a long life these days? Do you have any idea how many crises I would have to go through just for choosing a healthy lifestyle? No, gentlemen, I will not give up carbonara in exchange for more years of life.

LoremIpsumGenerator@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 12:09 next collapse

Bad luck if you have ancestors who live reaching 100s, most likely will passed down.

daychilde@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 13:28 next collapse

Okay, but who wants to live a long life these days?

What a foolish question. You sound young.

I’m 50. I’ve had six heart attacks, a below knee amputation, and I’m on dialysis after my kidneys failed. Life is not easy, and yet I still wish it to go on. I am probably going to die within a decade, and I hate that. I should have 2-3 more, dammit.

Marcomunista@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 27 Feb 2026 14:04 next collapse

Yeah, do you want to live long enough to find out if you’ll suffer from senile dementia?

daychilde@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 15:18 next collapse

Well, here’s the thing. Some people get dementia and others don’t. While I’d prefer not to get dementia, it seems foolish to commit suicide right now for fear that I might be one of the ones that get it.

Marcomunista@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 27 Feb 2026 15:39 collapse

No one is asking you to commit suicide, just to eat carbonara.

daychilde@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 15:54 next collapse

A fate worse that death! :)

Dasus@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 21:27 collapse

I would love some al dente carbonara right now. Unfortunately I think I’m oversensitive to gluten and dairy proteins. I’ve been trying for a few years now and that’s the conclusion I somewhat have to draw. Which sucks balls.

homoludens@feddit.org on 27 Feb 2026 15:31 collapse

Sounds like suicide out of fear of death.

captainlezbian@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 15:00 collapse

Also the years you lose/gain don’t come from the end, they come from wherever you are now. If you’re 30 and start exercising you feel better and younger longer in addition to living longer, the inverse if you decide to start smoking.

ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net on 27 Feb 2026 14:21 next collapse

If you’re only consuming meat in carbonara you’re pretty much vegan to me.

Marcomunista@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 27 Feb 2026 15:40 collapse

You don’t know how much carbonara I can eat.

exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 27 Feb 2026 23:03 collapse

People who die at 60 tend not to have very enjoyable 50’s.

I want to live a high quality life at least to 75, if not 80, and I’m guessing that will make it much more likely that I end up living to 90 or 100.

474D@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2026 13:07 next collapse

Quality over quantity, baby

Dave@lemmy.nz on 27 Feb 2026 19:26 next collapse

A point missing from the headline:

While being vegetarian appeared to be protective overall, the scientists also found that those who follow a vegetarian diet had nearly double the risk of the most common type of cancer of the oesophagus, known as squamous cell carcinoma, compared with meat eaters. This may be due to vegetarians being deficient in key nutrients such as B vitamins, the team suggested.

So you can just choose what kind of cancer you want by altering your diet.

I feel like we’re just gonna end up back where we always do, with moderation being the best policy. Don’t eat too much of any one thing but eat some of everything.

Applejuicy@feddit.nl on 27 Feb 2026 22:02 next collapse

I mean it says overall protective, so no, not just equal choice. Also seems quite easy to fix if it is only due to lack of B vitamins.

FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca on 04 Mar 2026 14:33 collapse

The best is to eat meat sometimes and vegetarian meals sometimes (with cheese, mushrooms, tofu, or something else besides meat for protein)

Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml on 27 Feb 2026 22:44 next collapse

Brace yourselves for all the meat eaters suddenly getting extremely defensive…

FreshParsnip@lemmy.ca on 04 Mar 2026 14:29 next collapse

I haven’t gone full vegetarian but I eat vegetarian meals a lot

ryathal@sh.itjust.works on 05 Mar 15:34 collapse

These studies aren’t very useful without considering the base rate. From Google, the lifetime risk for men for pancreatic cancer is about 1.8% (1.7% for women). the article said vegetarians had 21% less chance, which means it’s a 1.4% chance.

To me this smells like a study with a lot of data massaging to get something publishable.