Why Red Meat Increases Inflammation and Triggers Cancer

Scientists have repeatedly linked long-term red meat consumption to an increased risk of certain cancers, in particular rectal cancer.

Now researchers at the University of California (UC), San Diego, have received evidence that red meat contains a specific type of sugar that may contribute to inflammation and cancer progression.

However, all experiments were carried out on mice, and their results are still difficult to project onto humans – scientists themselves admit this in an article published on an online resource Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

The researchers focused on a sugar known as the “non-human” sialic acid – N-glycolylneuraminic acid (New5Gc), which is naturally present in the organisms of most mammals, but not humans. This sugar is found in many types of meat, especially in those popular among meat-eaters – in beef, pork, lamb.

Researchers have suggested that eating red meat could lead to inflammation if the human body’s immune system continually generates antibodies against the animals consumed. New5Gc, that is, a foreign molecule.

To test this hypothesis, the team needed an animal model that, like a human, would not produce New5Gc.

They managed to create the desired mouse model through genetic engineering: these mice did not form New5Gc and, therefore, antibodies were produced against it, which mimicked the situation in the human body.

When these mice were given New5Gc, systemic inflammation developed in their bodies, and spontaneous tumors began to form in the liver, in which New5Gc… As the researchers suggested, such mice are prone to the appearance of tumors in the liver, which, in turn, explains why malignant tumors appeared there.

“For the first time, we have directly demonstrated, by simulating a situation similar to that which occurs in the human body, that the use of inhuman New5Gc and the production of antibodies by the body to New5Gc increases the risk of spontaneous cancers in mice, ”said lead study author Ajit Varki, MD at the University Cancer Research Center in a press statement.UC Saint Diego Moores Cancer Center).

“So far, all our evidence of the link between cancer and New5Gc were accidental or indirect, since they were obtained without conducting experiments on living things, he added. “It will be much more difficult to get the final confirmation with experiments on humans,” explains A. Varki.

However, these new data help explain the potential links between red meat consumption and the development of other diseases exacerbated by chronic inflammation, such as atherosclerosis and type II diabetes.

The new study is making a significant contribution to the development of already existing ideas about the consumption of red meat and the occurrence of cancer. Previously, the connection between these phenomena has not been conclusively confirmed.