Many people are advised from some natural cancer groups and websites to avoid eating red meat and animal foods because of some incorrect beliefs that animal foods or meat either causes cancer or causes body acidity which also causes cancer. But animal foods and meat don’t do either of these things!

The World Hoax/Health Organisation (WHO) also lists on their website that processed meats and red meats as a “Probable” carcinogen (WHO, 2015).

So how did one of the world’s most nutrient-dense and traditional foods become labelled as cancer-causing?!

​Because of a ridiculous and poor quality study published in 2011 (Chan et. al., 2011), which used statistical trickery to manipulate study data to come up with a misleading finding. For example, this study looked at the Relative Risk of red and processed meats on colon cancer, colorectal cancer and rectal cancer only. The Relative Risk is a statistical measure of the probability of an outcome between an exposed group and an unexposed/control group. In this study, the researchers found for example, that there was an 18% increase in risk between those who ate red/processed meats who got cancer vs those who didn’t eat red meats. That is what raised alarm bells and caused the useless WHO to label red meats as carcinogenic!

But Relative Risk as a statistical measurement is very misleading, and can be deliberately used in studies like this to find a preconceived outcome when there isn’t really a true outcome. Better quality studies use the Absolute Risk measurement instead.

This study found the risk of people eating red meat and getting cancers was actually just 0.0438%!! A miniscule risk, which is not statistically significant on its own. The risk of people in the control group was actually only 0.0371%, being another insignificant and miniscule risk. But the difference between the control group RR result and meat-eating cancer group was 18%, hence their insane finding that “red meat causes cancer”! Even if the risk of both groups was so close to zero!

The Absolute Risk, being the ACTUAL risk of people who eat red meats, processed meats and animal foods and getting cancer was actually only 0.0067% - no risk at all! There was also NO evidence at all in this study which proved that red meats, processed meats or animal foods actually CAUSED cancer at all! Hence why people really need to know where these ridiculous beliefs come from and why people need to do their own research, and not just believe what various websites or influencers say.

Ironically, the study also highlighted that the rise in colon and colorectal cancers has coincided with economic development and a Western diet and lifestyle! Or in other words, colon cancer is not as common in less developed countries. But meats and animal foods are not just from modern development or a new concept! We’ve been eating animal foods and meats FOREVER! They are amongst the most nutrient-dense foods we can ever eat! The study is finding other possible clues and factors for cancers which are not what they are trying to blame their findings on…

Another interesting theory in the study to explain the issues with red meats and animal foods and cancer is related to the cooking of these foods! High temperature cooking of red meats or animal foods, especially on a barbeque or flame-grilled, produces a number of possibly carcinogenic compounds called Heterocyclic Amines and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Advanced Glycation End-products and Acrylamides. Ironically, in other studies, these cooking byproducts are also produced from over-heating or baking plant-based foods too! But let’s just blame the red meat…

So is the real issue of red meats and processed meats being associated with cancer (NOTE – NOT “causing” cancer), or is it how these foods are processed or COOKED that’s really the issue?! If so, again it’s NOT the red meat which causes the cancer!

A couple of reasons why I think the idea of actually limiting or avoiding meats and animal foods in cancer is a huge risk include the following:

1. Vitamin B12, only found in animal foods, is needed for your immune system function to produce the lymphocytes which are your natural anti-cancer white blood cells! You really want to make more of these to fight cancer
2. Vitamin B12 is needed for tissue repair and healing, including from cancer surgery, or even physical organ or cell damage from chemotherapy or radiation treatments
3. Red meats are high in iron, and in my experience, 80+% of people with cancer have low iron levels and/or anaemia… and the form of iron in animal foods is much more bioavailable and usable than from plant foods
4. Red meats and animal foods have a high protein content, which is also needed for immune system function, tissue repair and healing, and many other metabolic functions too, to help against cancer and for recovery
5. Red meats and animal foods are very low in carbohydrates, which are found in much higher amounts in all plant foods. Carbs metabolise into glucose, being the main source of fuel for energy and growth and progression of cancer cells. High carbohydrate foods and diets are known to CAUSE cancer as well as feed the cancer cells!

Hence avoiding or stopping intake of red meats and animal foods can have a huge detrimental impact on your immune system function and ability to reverse cancer and recover. This is why I do NOT recommend reducing or avoiding red meat consumption, or even other animal foods (other meats, fish, eggs etc) for the prevention of cancer, or after a cancer diagnosis.

There is another ridiculous belief that animal foods need to be avoided with cancer due to an alleged acidic effect of these foods. This is also untrue and will be discussed in another article soon!

As I usually say, from my experience, there’s ALWAYS a combination of root causes and factors in the development and progression of cancer, which can be a different combination of factors in each person. It’s NEVER just the one cause to cancer development. And it’s not from red meats or animal foods, when these foods have been eaten forever and offer a lot of health benefits!

Stay healthy!

References:

Chan, D. S., Lau, R., Aune, D., Vieira, R., Greenwood, D. C., Kampman, E., & Norat, T. (2011). Red and processed meat and colorectal cancer incidence: meta-analysis of prospective studies. PloS one, 6(6), e20456. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020456

WHO. (2015). Cancer: Carcinogenicity of the consumption of red meat and processed meat. Retrieved 9th April 2026 from www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/cancer-carcinogenicity-of-the-consumption-of-red-meat-and-processed-meat

Regarding prostate cancer (and/or prostate enlargement or BPH, Benign Prostate Hypertrophy), there’s a number of things which are common beliefs for these health issues in men but which make no sense...
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For example, the belief that prostate cancer is driven by the male hormone testosterone. It’s like people (including doctors) think that as only men get prostate enlargement or prostate cancer, it must be due to testosterone levels, and especially from high testosterone levels! And as such, one of the medical “treatments” (and I use this word loosely) for prostate issues is a medication to block testosterone.

But if testosterone were the cause of prostate issues and prostate cancer, then EVERY male, boy or man would develop prostate issues! Especially more so in YOUNGER men and adolescents when their testosterone is at its highest! But this doesn’t happen as is proven in many published studies (Morgantaler, 2006).

So where did this belief of testosterone being linked to prostate cancer come from?

In a 1941 study on testosterone being linked to prostate cancer, which only used 3 men (!) and one man dropped out during the study and one man was already castrated (hence likely low testosterone), the scientists gave the 2 men testosterone injections (NOTE – not natural testosterone or checking on their own levels). The authors of this study based their findings on just one non-castrated man who had high testosterone, and doctors have been making “treatment” decisions on this poor quality study ever since…

More recent studies have NOT been able to prove that testosterone levels or even testosterone therapy/injections actually cause prostate cancer! In other words, NO studies have found that testosterone causes prostate cancer or increases its incidence! Testosterone causing prostate cancer is a MYTH from 1941, which is sadly still being followed and believed by doctors and oncologists now in 2026.

In my experience, I would say that only 5% of men who have been diagnosed with an enlarged prostate or prostate cancer are actually checked to see if they have high (or low) testosterone, before they are given testosterone blocking medications or even chemotherapy or surgery! But these medications are ridiculous and can produce dangerous side effects such as erectile dysfunction and impotence, development of man-boobs, low to no libido, increased weight and changes in body fat distribution to more like a female, reduced bone density, liver and/or kidney issues, and more.
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Many of these side effects are the same as having high oestrogen levels, being the main sex hormone in females. But males are not supposed to have high levels of oestrogen, as it’s the opposite sex hormone for male body functions! Hence this is far more likely to cause or drive prostate enlargement or prostate cancer than testosterone. And many human and animal studies DO confirm this!

Prostate stem cells are known to have oestrogen receptors, in a similar way that breast cancer cells do, and why breast cancer cells (and other female organ cancer cells) respond to oestrogen for their development and growth (Nelles, Hu & Prins, 2011; Bosland, 2005). Rat studies have shown to induce prostate cancer in 100% of male rats with exposure to oestrogen or oestrogenic chemicals.

Males are not supposed to have high levels of oestrogen! But in my clinical practice, I insist that men who have enlarged prostates or prostate cancer, or even men in their mid to late 40s for proactive preventative reasons, should get their testosterone levels checked AND oestrogen levels too. I’ve ALWAYS found high oestrogen in men with prostate issues!

Where is the high oestrogen coming from or what is causing the prostate cancer?

There’s a number of sources of oestrogens in foods, our environment, and even within our own bodies. The sources of the high oestrogens can be a combination of a number of these sources and factors, and this can be different in each man with prostate issues. Detailed testing and investigations and questioning are needed to find the root causes and factors in each man. This is what I do! In this way, I can find and treat your specific causes and factors, for a more personalised and specific treatment and preventative plan. By checking for testosterone and oestrogen levels in men, especially in the later years (say 40s-50s+) prostate cancer can even be prevented!

If you know a man with prostate issues (enlargement or prostate cancer), please let them know of this info, and/or share this with them.

If testosterone isn’t the cause of prostate issues, as it appears to be, then testosterone blocking medications won’t reverse it, but will make symptoms and side effects worse.

Stay healthy!

References:

Bosland M. C. (2005). The role of estrogens in prostate carcinogenesis: a rationale for chemoprevention. Reviews in urology, 7 Suppl 3(Suppl 3), S4–S10.

Morgentaler, A. (2006). Testosterone and Prostate Cancer: An Historical Perspective on a Modern Myth. European Urology, 50 (5), 935-939. DOI: 10.1016/j.eururo.2006.06.034.

Nelles, J. L., Hu, W. Y., & Prins, G. S. (2011). Estrogen action and prostate cancer. Expert review of endocrinology & metabolism, 6(3), 437–451. DOI: 10.1586/eem.11.20

Image - by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free.org

We are going to talk about the irony of medical cancer “treatments”, and I use the word “treatment” very loosely…

If you are diagnosed with cancer, you are usually given one or more of the usual medical options for your “treatment”:

​1. Chemotherapy, or chemical “therapy”, or in other words, doses of extremely toxic chemicals to try and slow down or kill the cancer cells. Unfortunately, it kills a lot of healthy cells and causes a lot of toxicity to all body organs, including to your immune system
2. Radiotherapy, or radiation “therapy”, or in other words, doses of radiation aimed at the cancer/tumour to try and kill the cancer cells. But also causes collateral damage to other cells and organs which surround or are close to the tumour too
3. Immunotherapy, or immune “therapy”, which is ironic really, in that you are typically initially given toxic chemotherapy medications to reduce (ie, to “wipe out”) your immune system’s white blood cells, then given new medications to “restart” your immune system to help it find the cancer cells again.

The irony is that all of these cancer “treatment” options can reduce or even destroy your immune system function, when your immune system is the MAIN thing which can really prevent cancer development and progression, or to kill the cancer cells!

Your immune system has several types of white blood cells, especially types of lymphocytes called cytotoxic T-cells and Natural Killer (NK) cells, whose purpose in life is to find damaged cells and cancer cells, and to kill them!

This shows the importance of improving the function of your immune system, and your white blood cells! Anything which affects your immune system function will increase the risks of cancer development and progression. And this includes the so-called cancer “treatments”. Or if you have cancer, it’s always a sign that your immune system hasn’t been working well to find and destroy the damaged cancer cells. That’s why people with cancer need more support to improve their immune system function.

There are many things which can affect the production of the white blood cells, so these causes and factors need to be found and then treated in each person, to improve your immune system function. This can then help to prevent cancer and/or treat and reverse cancer.

But all the medical “treatments” reduce your immune system function…

The other related issue with cancer is the importance of finding and treating all the root causes of cancer in each person. This is what I do for each person I see with cancer. But the medical approach to cancer is just to “treat” the symptom, which is the cancer itself, using chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. Never do doctors or oncologists ask “why?” or look into what CAUSED the cancer. If you only look at “treating” the cancer itself, especially with things which reduce immune system function, you can almost guarantee that the cancer will come back. If it doesn’t come back in the same organ or tissue, it can come back elsewhere in the body due to reduced immune function, toxicity from the chemotherapy and radiation, and from not actually addressing the root causes of it.

Hence the importance of finding and treating all the root causes of cancer and low immune system function in each person. There are many known root causes and factors for cancer development and progression, which need to be identified in each person, for a true holistic and personalised treatment approach. This can give quick symptom relief as well as long-term resolution, and long-term prevention too!

Stay healthy!