Abstract

On 29 Oct 2015, the International Agency of Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of WHO, released an evaluation report of the Carcinogenicity of Consumption of Red and Processed meat on The Lancet Oncology [1]. Red meat consumption is classified as probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), based on limited mechanistic evidence that red meat can be associated with colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancer. Processed meat was classified as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), based on enough evidence that it causes colorectal cancer. Compared to the wellknown association between nitrite in processed meat and cancer in humans, which has been well studied for decades, the connection between red meat and cancer is a relatively newer topic of human nutrition and public health.