Eating Meat increases risk of Cancer

Just before I get into the 'meat' of the argument (pardon the pun), can we cite actual sources? Linking to articles is just silly, there were several scientific studies referenced in the article that you attached in your argument. Let's be honest, if we actually want to have a discussion about evidence, linking to blog posts and random articles from sites such a Web MD is unhelpful, linking directly to sources and studies as I will is a far more efficient and allows us to cut out the semantics and biases that these sites are prone to. It's really quite difficult to assess the claims of a Web MD post in the same way that you can analyse and interpret a study because it's clear to see where their information and numbers are coming from. My main argument: While eating excessive amounts of meat will certainly lead to cancers such as colon cancer, everything should be consumed in moderation! You can consume meat, red, processed or otherwise without significantly increasing the risk of cancer(s), at least according to the current scientific literature. Below I've linked a report from the UK government's independent dietary and nutritional board, SACN, this report was looking into Iron and the sources of Iron, one of the main ones in the UK being red meat. This is why the report talked about cancer in some detail and weighed the pros and cons of the increased risk of cancer and the valuable source of Iron for people in the UK. The report had this to say on the subject: "After detailed consideration of the epidemiological evidence on the relationship between red and processed meat intake and colorectal cancer risk, the report concludes that red and processed meat is probably associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. Since the evidence does not allow quantification of the amount of red and processed meat that may be linked with increased colorectal cancer risk, SACN is advising high consumers of red and processed meat to consider reducing their intakes. The modelling exercise suggests that reducing red and processed meat intake to the population average for adult consumers (estimated to be about 70 g/day cooked weight in 2000/01) would have little effect on the proportion of the population with iron intakes below the lower limit of recommended intake for iron." So as you can see, consuming less than 70g per day of red meat would allow many people to maintain their healthy iron intake from the meat alone, and the risk of colon cancers as you mentioned, as far as we currently know, would be significantly lower. Therefore as it appears, you can consume meat without risking a substantial increase in cancers such as colon cancer. The full report: https://www.gov.uk... And according to the WHO who have published several reports detailing the dangers of eating meat and how it can lead to colon and other types of cancers had this to say following the media storm that their report generated: "Our response focuses solely on the recommendation to moderate consumption of red meat" http://www.who.int... It's clear that according to current scientific literature and recommendations from several national and international bodies that the consumption of red meat in excessive amounts will increase your chances of getting cancer(s). But overall it would be false to suggest that just eating meat would increase the risk of getting cancer, everything should be done in moderation and meat is no exception. Perhaps in the future the scientific stance will change and all meat consumption will increase the risk of cancer, but as it stands your overall claim is false.