Mechanistic Hypotheses on Colorectal Cancer and Red Meat Intake: A Review

Abstract

Red meat is classified as probably carcinogenic to humans by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) based on evidence on how it may affect the development of colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer worldwide. A plethora of scientific experiments prevailing to establish a positive association between red meat and colorectal cancer suggested different mechanistic hypotheses in order to explain such a phenomenon. This paper aims to discuss major hypotheses related to how red meat consumption may lead to colorectal cancer. Such hypotheses involve the role of natural compounds present in red meat (such as lipid, protein, N-glycolylneuraminic acid and heme iron) and neoformed substances during meat processing (such as heterocyclic amines, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and N-nitroso compounds).