And lower your overall colorectal cancer risk, too.
Key Takeaways
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide.
One possible reason for that connection is the heme iron these foods contain.
Photo:Getty Images. EatingWell design.
How Was the Study Conducted?
This questionnaire asked how often participants ate certain foods and how much they usually ate.
The questionnaire included 106 common foods in the Korean diet.
With all of this information, analyses were conducted to determine potential links.
What Did the Study Find?
For colon cancer specifically, moderate iron consumption also correlated to a lower risk.
(Thats just a fraction of your recommended daily value, which varies depending on age and sex.)
Instead, the most protective effects were seen in a moderate intake range in this study.
The researchers propose that this might be because iron consumption in Korea is generally quite low.
Like all studies, this one has some limitations to be aware of.
This study is observational, and observational studies often face challenges with confounding variables, like overall diet.
The study also neglected to collect information about any iron supplements that participants may have been taking.
How Does This Apply to Real Life?
Hearing headlines linking eating red meat to cancer can be alarming.
Dont overdo it with this mineraltoo much may not be a good thing for your body.
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USDA.Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
National Institute of Health.Iron.
2019;7(10):17231727. doi: 10.3889/oamjms.2019.265
