Vegetarian diet can slash risk of five cancers by up to 30%, study finds

A vegetarian diet can reduce the risk of five types of cancer by as much as 30%, a study has found.

In the largest study of its kind, University of Oxford researchers found vegetarians have a 21% lower risk of pancreatic cancer and a 9% lower risk of breast cancer compared to meat eaters. Vegetarians also have a 12% reduced risk of prostate cancer, 28% lower risk of kidney cancer and 31% lower risk of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.

However, vegetarians were found to have nearly double the risk of the most common type of cancer of the oesophagus compared with meat eaters. This might be due to vegetarians missing out on some key nutrients, researchers suggested.

And vegans were found to have a higher risk of bowel cancer when compared with meat eaters, although more research was needed in this area. It is already established that eating processed meat such as ham, bacon and salami is linked to an increased risk of bowel cancer, and possibly stomach cancer.

Red meat such as beef, pork and lamb also increases the risk, while a link with white meat, such as chicken and turkey, has not been shown. Experts behind the new study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, said more work was needed on whether it is overall meat consumption that is linked to cancer, or whether something specific in vegetarian diets lowers the risk.

The research included data from various studies worldwide, with most people coming from the UK and US. Some 1.64 million meat eaters were included, alongside 57,016 poultry eaters (no red meat), 42,910 people who ate fish and no meat (pescatarians), 63,147 vegetarians and 8,849 vegans.

Led by researchers at Oxford Population Health, and funded by the World Cancer Research Fund, the study investigated 17 different cancers, including those of the gastrointestinal tract, lung, reproductive system, urinary tract and blood cancer. Food intake, generally over the previous 12 months or a "typical diet.