Gene variant, processed meat linked to boost in cancer risk

For people with a specific gene variant, eating a lot of processed meat may increase their risk of getting colon cancer.

Michaela den/Wikimedia Commons

Eating processed meat is associated with an increased risk of developing colon cancer in people who have the gene variant rs4143094, researchers report April 17 in PLOS Genetics. One in three people have this altered gene, which is found on the same region of chromosome 10 as GATA3, a gene that has been linked to other forms of cancer.

About 30 other gene variants have been linked to colon cancer, but the way certain foods affect gene activity isn’t clear yet, the scientists say.

Ashley Yeager is the associate news editor at Science News. She has worked at The Scientist, the Simons Foundation, Duke University and the W.M. Keck Observatory, and was the web producer for Science News from 2013 to 2015. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.

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