Regular Chicken Consumption Linked To Elevated Cancer Risk, Says Study

A new study has suggested that eating around four portions of chicken or other poultry per week could double the risk of dying from a gastrointestinal cancer.

Researchers from Italy’s National Institute of Gastroenterology found that people who ate over 300g of poultry per week were twice as likely to die from one of 11 different gastrointestinal cancers, including types affecting the stomach, bowel, and pancreas.

Furthermore, eating more than 300g per week was linked to a 27 percent increased chance of death overall. The mortality risk from excessive chicken consumption was also higher for men than women, which they hypothesized could be related to portion size or hormones.

The researchers conducted the study on 4,869 middle-aged participants from Castellana Grotte and Putignano in Apulia, southern Italy, over nearly 20 years. Gastrointestinal cancers, or “GCs,” accounted for 10.5 percent of participant deaths, and white meat consumption was notably highest among those who died of gastrointestinal cancers.

The researchers noted the need for further study, including around participants’ exercise levels and other contextual factors.

Meat consumption and cancer risk

Photo shows a selection of plant-based foods mixed in with raw animal-derived foods like poultry, beef, and fish — Adobe Stock Where meat and animal products are linked with elevated cancer risk, plant-based proteins are linked with reduced risk

The study was published in the scientific journal Nutrients last month. While the researchers said the precise cause of an increased mortality risk was unclear, theorized possibilities included cooking processes and farmed animals’ exposure to hormones and medications.

Eating more than 350g of red meat per week, equal to around two steaks, was also found to increase the risk of any type of cancer, the researchers found. But where poultry previously enjoyed a health halo, red meat’s links to negative health outcomes are well established.

Poultry was the most widely consumed meat in the world in 2023, and studies indicate that consumption per capita in Italy, in particular, is on the rise. Cancer rates are also rising, including for younger people, which is thought to be due to a complex range of factors.

Diet is generally considered to be one of these factors, and Cancer Research UK previously suggested that 21 percent of bowel cancers and three percent of all cancers in Britain are caused by the consumption of red or processed meats, as reported by the BBC.

In contrast, a growing body of evidence links meat-free and plant-based diets with a reduced risk of developing cancer, including gastrointestinal varieties like bowel cancer.