A recent study done by the university of California, San Diego School of medicine, had found that Neu5Gc, which is a non-human sugar present in the red meat can cause inflammation and increase the severity of cancer.
In the study, they fed Neu5Gc to mice and noticed a significant progression of cancers. In their experiment they did not use any carcinogens or artificial cancer inducer to implicate the relation between cancer and red meat consumption.
Mr. Ajit Varki, Principal investigator, MD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, said that they did the experiment directly by feeding the non-human Neu5Gc and generating anti-Neu5Gc anti-bodies can increase the possibility of spontaneous cancers to the mice.
In their previous study, they showed that non-human Neu5Gc gets absorbed in human tissues. But in this recent study, they hypothesized that eating red meat can cause inflammation if the immune system is producing anti-bodies against consumed Neu5Gc constantly.
The researchers also mentioned that it is difficult to get the final proof by doing trial in humans, but this experiment would definitely help to understand the link between the red meat consumption and various diseases exacerbated by long-term inflammation.
The study is published in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
