Eating Red and Processed Meats Linked to Higher Breast Cancer Risk
CancerBreast Cancer

Meat Consumption and Breast Cancer Risk: What You Need to Know

The frequency, amount, and type of meat you eat may affect your risk for breast cancer.
Meat Consumption and Breast Cancer Risk: What You Need to Know
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Updated on August 1, 2024
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Breast cancer is now the leading cancer diagnosis in women under age 50 in the United States, with rates having increased by nearly 8 percent between 2010 and 2019, according to a study published in 2023 in JAMA Network Open.

 Breast cancer is also on the rise among older women.

And while a direct link hasn’t been proven, growing research suggests that limiting consumption of red and processed meats — which are known to raise the risk of colorectal cancer and are associated with pancreatic, prostate, and stomach cancers — may help reduce breast cancer risk in both pre- and postmenopausal women.

 Replacing red meat with poultry may reduce breast cancer risk further.

A study of more than 42,000 women between ages 35 and 74, published in the International Journal of Cancer, found that those who ate the most red meat (including beef, pork, and lamb) were on average 23 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than those who ate the least. The study also found that women who ate the most poultry (including chicken and turkey) had a 15 percent lower incidence of breast cancer compared with those who ate the least.

“We found that higher consumption of red meat was associated with higher invasive breast cancer incidence, whereas poultry was associated with reduced incidence,” says study author Dale P. Sandler, PhD, chief of the epidemiology branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). “Notably, we also showed that substituting poultry for red meat could decrease rates of invasive breast cancer.”

Processed meats, meanwhile — things like hot dogs, ham, bacon, and sausages — may have an even higher level of risk than red meat. A review and meta-analysis of studies also published in the International Journal of Cancer found that when comparing highest intakes with the lowest, processed meat was linked with a 9 percent increased risk of breast cancer while red meat was linked with a 6 percent increased risk.

Another large-scale investigation, a 2021 meta-analysis of 148 studies, found that red and processed meats were significantly associated with a greater risk of breast cancer.

 And the latest report, a 2023 comprehensive review of red meat consumption and cancer risk, determined that “red meat consumption is strongly associated with the development of breast cancer.”

Latest Findings Confirm Earlier Reports

These latest findings echo those of earlier studies conducted by researchers who continue to stand by their results.

One of the original reports on the subject, the landmark Nurses’ Health Study 2, which involved 90,659 premenopausal women ages 26 to 46, found that women who ate red meat four to five times per week had a 14 percent higher risk of hormone receptor–positive (HR+) breast cancer than those who ate red meat three or fewer times per week. Women who consumed more than 1.5 servings of red meat daily were nearly twice as likely to develop HR-positive breast cancer.

A subsequent investigation of 44,231 women ages 33 to 52 reached a similar conclusion. “Women who consumed more than about two servings of red meat daily during adolescence were 43 percent more likely to develop premenopausal breast cancer than those who ate red meat less than once per week,” says study author Heather Eliassen, ScD, professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

The research also saw a benefit in replacing red meat with other protein sources.

 “Our analyses found that replacing red meat with a combination of legumes, nuts, poultry, and fish was associated with reduced risk of breast cancer,” Dr. Eliassen says.

World Health Organization Classifies Red and Processed Meats as Carcinogens

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), processed meat is a Class 1 carcinogen, meaning that it is carcinogenic (has the potential to cause cancer) to humans — in the same category as tobacco and asbestos. The IARC has classified red meat as a Group 2A carcinogen, meaning that it is probably carcinogenic to humans.

In a report published in The Lancet Oncology, the IARC working group noted a 17 percent increased risk of colorectal cancer — also on the rise among younger Americans — for every 100 grams of red meat consumed daily (the amount in a palm-of-hand-sized steak or a hockey puck–sized hamburger patty), and an 18 percent increase for every 50 grams of processed meat consumed daily (the amount in six slices of bacon or one hot dog).

And yet, despite years of warnings about the negative health effects associated with consuming processed meats — which also include cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes — Americans are eating as much processed meat as ever. The top five, in order, are: luncheon meat, sausage, hot dogs, ham, and bacon.

Meanwhile, data on the negative health effects associated with overconsumption of red meat continue to pile up: Research from 2023 found that people who eat just two servings of red meat per week may be more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who eat less. The research also found that replacing red meat with healthy plant-based protein sources or modest amounts of dairy foods was associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.

You Don’t Have to Eliminate Red Meat Entirely to See a Benefit

The following statement on the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health website by the lead author of several of the Nurses’ Health studies sums it up: “Women don’t have to become vegetarians and give up red meat. But if they decrease the amount of red meat they eat — for example, having it once a week instead of twice a day — they will decrease their risk of developing breast cancer. The good news is that they can replace red meat with other sources of protein, including poultry, legumes, nuts, or fish. Women will get the most benefit if they do this earlier in life rather than later.”

NIEHS’s Dr. Sandler, author of the study published in the International Journal of Cancer, concurs: “Reducing intake of red and processed meats is an important component of a healthy diet and may help lower the risk of breast canceras well as other cancers and chronic diseases,” she says.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends choosing protein foods such as fish, poultry, and beans more often than red meat, and for people who eat processed meat products to do so “sparingly, if at all.”

The U.S. leads the world in beef consumption, followed by China and Brazil.

 Beef consumption reached a new high in 2021, when 30 billion pounds were consumed — an increase of about 8.7 percent from the previous year.

The Takeaway

Higher consumption of red and processed meats is strongly associated with an increased risk for breast cancer. Limiting or replacing red and processed meats with other sources of protein may lower this risk. The earlier in life you make this change, the more benefits you will see.

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Preeti K. Sudheendra, MD

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Member of American College of Lifestyle Medicine

Preeti K. Sudheendra, MD, is a highly regarded breast cancer medical oncologist and lifestyle medicine physician. After almost 15 years in full-time clinical practice, she is now f...

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Hilary Macht

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Hilary Macht is a New York City–based freelance writer covering health, science, and environment with a focus on the relationships among food, food culture, environment, and health...

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