It's often recommended as part of a balanced diet, but Italian researchers suggest too much of this meat could raise certain health risks.
A Surprising Meat Has Been Linked With Colon Cancer in a New Study
Published on May 28, 2025
It may be well known that vices such as smoking and drinking alcohol can up your risk for cancer, but so can your diet. What you eat or drink could potentially affect your health more than you’d think, as past studies have confirmed how sugar-sweetened beverages or processed meats could also increase cancer chances…and now another type of meat is getting a closer look.
The peer-reviewed journal Nutrients in April published the results of a study conducted by researchers from the National Institute of Gastroenterology in Bari, Italy. Reviewing data from 4,869 participants residing in southern Italy, researchers set out to see “for the first time” if there was a link between white meat consumption, gastrointestinal cancers, and all other causes of death, “focusing on the effects of poultry consumption.”
More than a quarter of all new cancer cases around the world are gastrointestinal, says a 2023 JAMA Network Open article. These include cancer of the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, small bowel, colon, rectum, and anus. Notably, colorectal cancer is the second deadliest cancer in the U.S., according to the National Cancer Institute.
Researchers analyzed information gathered by two cohort studies, as well as a questionnaire designed to learn more about food and drink consumption.
Three groups of participants were reviewed:
- those who ate red meat
- those who ate poultry
- those who ate “total meat,” consisting of lamb, pig, calf, horse, rabbit, and/or poultry
Noting that “Poultry meat is currently among the most widely consumed meats in Italy and worldwide,” the study’s results found that participants who ate more than 300 grams of poultry—about two-thirds of a pound—on a weekly basis had a 27% greater risk of death of all causes than those who ate less than 100 grams of it.
Chicken, turkey, duck, and game birds are all types of poultry, per the study’s text.
The results also suggested that participants who ate a significant amount of poultry had a 2.3% higher risk of gastrointestinal cancer—with men specifically having a 2.6% increased risk. Researchers hypothesize that estrogen levels, eating habits, and the overall amount of food consumed could be responsible for this difference.
However, the study’s authors say that more research is needed to learn about a potential link between poultry and gastrointestinal cancer. They also did not gather specific information about how the poultry consumed may have been processed.
Additionally, researchers did not monitor the participants’ physical activity, so it’s possible that the participants’ exercise routine, or lack thereof, could influence results.
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