Red meat and colon cancer: Heme proteins and nitrite in the gut. A commentary on 'Diet-induced endogenous formation of nitroso compounds in the GI tract'

摘要

The link between red meat intake and colon cancer has been discussed for many years , and several mechanistic hypotheses have been put forward to explain this link including oxidative damage as a result of the presence of iron or heme , carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and hetero-cyclic amines that form on cooking , and the protective effect of higher omiga-3 fatty acid content in high fish diets . Bingham and co-workers have published a series of studies that make the interesting connection between dietary heme content and nitrosationitrosylation in the GI tract that could account for the increased carcinogenic potential of red meats