A new landmark study shows that eating meat actually protects against cancer.
- The population study of nearly 16,000 adults found no link between higher animal protein intake and increased mortality from any cause, including cancer.
- In fact, those with higher animal protein intake showed a statistically significant reduction in cancer-related deaths.
- This study suggests that animal protein may play a protective role against cancer mortality.
This study challenges decades of fear-based messaging around meat and various diseases, including cancer, but confirms what we’ve been saying for a while now. Major authorities classify meat as carcinogenic, but miss a few key factors:
- The type of meat: is it processed or unprocessed? Is it high in inflammatory amino acids or balanced with proline and glycine? What is its fat profile like and is it high in omega 6 fatty acids?
- The quality: how was the animal treated and how was it fed?
- The context: is it a meat-lover’s pizza or a gelatin-rich stew? What are the other lifestyle habits of the cohort studied? Vegetarians and vegans tend to live a more health-conscious lifestyle.
The data suggest that quality animal protein may actually play a protective role in the body’s overall resilience and longevity.
Why might animal protein be protective?
- It provides essential amino acids which play a role in the body’s repair and renewal processes. Proteins like collagen, carnitine, and taurine are only found in animal sources and fuel tissue repair, mitochondrial energy production, and detoxification. Inadequate protein intake has been linked to frailty, (especially during aging) immune decline, and higher mortality.
- Nutrient density: Animal foods provide many bioavailable nutrients such as B12, zinc, vitamin A, heme iron, vitamin K, choline, and more. These nutrients are essential for DNA repair, redox balance, and immune defense, and deficiencies are consistently associated with a higher cancer risk.
- A few years ago researchers found that trans-vaccenic acids, a long-chain fatty acid found in meat and dairy products from grazing animals such as cows and sheep, improves the body’s immune response to cancer.
- Meat and milk contain food antigens, which have also been shown to help prevent intestinal tumors.
- Animal proteins support hormonal balance: the protein and nutrients in animal foods are important for keeping blood sugar balanced and the stress hormones down, as well as keeping estrogen and serotonin from becoming dominant.
This study reinforces what I see in clinical practice: patients who adequately meet their protein needs, especially with high-quality animal sources, tend to heal better, age more gracefully, and maintain a stronger immune defense against cancer.
When animal protein is sourced well, the right proteins are chosen, and they are properly balanced, it can be essential to metabolic health and protection against cancer.
Choose…
Quality dairy
Shellfish
Gelatin
Pastured eggs
Bone-in cuts of meat
…for the most health benefits.
Of course there is a time and place for many healing modalities, and eliminating animal foods can sometimes be a necessary therapeutic tool. But for a generally healthy lifestyle, it is almost essential to include quality animal products. The question isn’t always “meat or no meat,” but
- What is the balance of amino acids?
- What is the context of the patient?
- What kind of other lifestyle practices are being employed?
- What is the quality of the animal product?
- What is the fat profile of the product?
As with everything, context is key. I believe the quality of the food we eat is so important, and I prefer to buy grass-fed, organic meat. This ensures that the animals are raised on an evolutionarily consistent diet, which can affect quality and nutrient density.