Vegetarian Fish Eaters Have Lowest Risk of Colorectal Cancer: Study

A new study affirms lower risk of colorectal cancer in vegetarians compared to non-vegetarians. Including fish in vegetarian diet accords the best protection, the study shows.

According to Wall Street Journal, the study's conclusions were made based on questionnaires replies from 77,659 Seventh-Day Adventists. This group was chosen as its dietary habits, dictated by religion, are known to be healthy. Researchers divided replies into various categories of vegetarianism: Vegans, Lacto-Ovo vegetarians (consumers of egg and milk) and Pescovegetarians who eat fish as well. Pescovegetarians were found to have 43 percent lowered risk.

"Vegetarian diets are associated with an overall lower incidence of colorectal cancers. Pescovegetarians in particular have a much lower risk compared with non-vegetarians. If such associations are causal, they may be important for primary prevention of colorectal cancers," researchers wrote in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

For lacto-ovo vegetarians and vegans, the risk was estimated at 18 and 16 percent, CBS News reported. The study however stopped short of explaining the association. Studies in the past too have shown associations between red meat and increased risk of cancer, which in turn was found to be lowered in association with consumption of fiber rich foods.

The benefits of fish too were not explained though it is know that diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids like fish, contribute to well-being.