Study describes red meat’s cancer-causing mechanism in the colon

Over the past 40 years, red meat has changed roles in the American diet from a supporting player to the main attraction, increasing in both portion size and frequency of consumption. The rise in diagnoses of colorectal cancer correlates with this increase, though the mechanism by which red meat consumption results in hyperplasia is not well understood. Now a group of researchers in the Netherlands have published a study that suggests the gut microbiota, a hot subject among biomedical researchers, is pivotal in the heme-induced epithelial damage that leads to hyperplasia. They have published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.