Toxicogenomic responses to N-Nitroso compound exposure in relation to human colorectal cancer risk

This research shows that a diet with much red meat leads to changes in the gene activities in the intestines that can increase the risk of colorectal cancer. This can explain why the intake of red meat has been connected with the development of colorectal cancer for years already. Assumed was that red meat would increase a Group of substances, called nitrosamines, in the intestines and that these substances would subsequently influence the gene activity. This turns out not to be the case: red meat does not increase the formation. The present nitrosamines, however, did cause carcinogenic changes in the gene activity, but these changes can not directly be attributed to eating red meat.