Common dietary patterns and risk of cancers of the colon and rectum: Analysis from the United Kingdom Women's Cohort Study (UKWCS)

Survey of 32,147 women found no evidence of a reduction in risk of overall colorectal cancer, colon cancer or rectal cancer for red meat free diets vs diets with red meat.

Exploratory analysis suggest an increased risk of distal colon cancer in red meat free diets (HR 0.56, 95% CI 0.34 to 0.95) though numbers with this outcome were small.

 

An NHS Choices review puts into perspective media reports on this study suggesting they are somewhat misleading.  It observes the fact that the red meat category included processed meat also complicates things because processed meat has been established as even more likely to be a possible carcinogen than red meat.