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Vegetarians have ‘substantially lower risk’ of five types of cancer, a major study found
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2026
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At this point we're beating a dead horseradish. Pretty much every study says the less meat, the healthier
Which studies? A quick search doesn't seem to confirm that at all. From checking some of those studies, there seems to be a weak/low certainty correlation of lower meat consumption with lower cancer risks, a correlation (with geographical differences) of meat consumption with being overweight, but also other factors like smoking and low physical activity which really call into question whether other studies took that into account, and also a correlation between higher meat consumption and lower risk for depression (which I would also call into question given meat consumption's correlation with high socioeconomic status).
All I can get from those metastudies is a big nothing burger of "maybe"'s in either direction.
Except it's not meat itself, but contaminants in the meat.
"It's not the cigarette I smoke, it's all the bad chemicals in the cigarette" Big brain time over here
If they put a shitload of glyphosate on corn, it's not corn that gives you leukemia, it's the glyphosate, ya smarmy axe grinder.
The bad news about glyphosate is it's apparently on everything. It's at the point where it may be confounding experiments that haven't controlled for its presence.
That is just one of many, the second most used herbicide, atrazine, is in all the municipal water systems too, testing is done in spring usually when the water table is high, but in the fall when the water table is lower it returns higher values of pollutants. But atrazine is a potent endocrine disruptor, one of many out there.
Regarding vegetarians and cancer yes, but most studies show that a moderate intake of meat is beneficial to your OVERALL health. And this study does NOT show that less meat the better.
Also a lot of studies including this one, show that some nutrients are hard to obtain as a vegan, so you need supplements to stay healthy. Especially if you are Vegan.
I don't think you read the article, but just had a knee jerk reaction to the headline.
Interesting how they call out vitamin B and calcium. Ovo/lactose vegetarians have just as much dairy as meat eaters and probably eat even more calcium-rich foods like kale and other greens. Most dairy substitutes are calcium fortified as well.
Not at forms of calcium are the same.
Yes the calcium part is outright weird? Regarding B vitamin I think it's some specific B vitamins like B12, definitely not all of them.
I think there may have been some journalistic misunderstanding, because it is mentioned in context with Vegans, while the article also seems to lump the 2 together at times. Which is a problem IMO, because there's a huge difference between Vegetarian that drink milk and eat fish and eggs, and a Vegan that eat zero animal products.
I agree with everything you said, except for one point. Vegetarians by definition do not eat fish, pescatarian is likely the word you are looking for as they eat everything you listed with the inclusion of fish.
Ah ok I thought fish was included, because I've known some who call themselves vegetarians who eat fish.
It's a common misunderstanding, not exactly sure where it stems from. When I was a vegetarian many years ago it wouldn't be uncommon for people to offer me fish.
Maybe it comes from the distinction between meat and fish that stems from fasting in Catholicism.
Vegetarians don't drink milk or eat fish and eggs
You've confused the term vegetarian with vegan. Vegetarians just don't eat meat and fish, vegans don't eat any animal products (no milk, eggs, or honey)
Vegans follow a vegetarian diet, but it's far from only being about diet. Lacto-ovo-vegetarians call themselves vegetarians because they are in denial about their own carnism
It sounds like you think the only options are veganism (which you call vegetarianism) or carnism
Vegetarianism is a diet, veganism is a philosophy. Lacto-ovo-vegetarianism is a self-soothing delusion.
No, they both describe diets. One refrains from eating meat, the other refrains from eating all animal products
https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism
I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Vegetarian diets and vegan diets aren't the same
Most so-called "vegetarians" are nothing of the sort. Most actual vegetarians are vegans. Lacto-ovo-vegetarianism is a self-soothing delusion.
By definition, if they don't eat meat, they're vegetarian. I get that you believe it moral hypocrisy to eat cheese and eggs if vegetarian but they are still, by definition, vegetarian
Sorry I didn't know definitions were ordained by God
You don't get to gatekeep who is vegetarian just because you don't like the widely accepted definition. That's like insisting only acute triangles are triangles. There is a distinction between vegetarian and vegan specifically because vegans avoid eggs, dairy, and honey.
You’re correct that vegetarians don’t eat fish. People who eat fish but no other meats are called “pescatarians”, as someone mentioned earlier.
However, “vegetarian” refers to people with diets of mostly plants and sometimes animal byproducts that don’t require killing the animal (like milk and eggs).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism
The specific subset of vegetarians who don’t eat or use any animal byproducts are called “vegans”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism
It can be confusing because there’s sort of a tree of consumption/diets and there are a lot of terms, and some of the terms sound similar. Hope this helps.
Lacto-ovo-vegetarians aren't vegetarians, they're carnists
Do we know what moderate means?
Here it means less than 150g per day. But there is no minimum recommendation AFAIK, probably because most people eat too much.
So optimal amount is a bit murky. It probably also varies depending of what types of meat you eat. It is generally understood that chicken is better for your health than red meat.
150gr is moderate ?! Daaaaamn. TIL our family is moderate as fuck then. More than 150 is just not feeling okay. We are pushing to 200 when it’s steak day. I’m curious what’s the average now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_meat_consumption
I live in Denmark, and we were highest on meat consumption in 2002, but in 2020 the amount of meat consumed per person was cut by more than half!
So the highest number was in 2002 with 146 kg per year per person, or 397 gr per day, more than double the recommendation on average!
Supermarkets here are making smaller packages, and beef is now taxed to reduce consumption of that in particular. Also because it is considered more environmentally harmful than other types of meat.
And how many of the studies did you actually read?
My guess it's zero
This topic got you all triggered, huh?
I'm not an expert in the field, reading it wouldn't help me discern much. That's why we typically rely on recommendations from expert bodies, who review the literature and understand it.
"I'm not an expert in the field but I know that pretty much every study says the less meat, the healthier".
So how do you know if you haven't read the studies and are not an expert?
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