Red meat could double breast cancer risk

London: Women who eat red meat more than once a day double the risk of getting the most common form of breast cancer, doctors said.

Women who ate the most meat, especially in processed forms such as hamburgers and sausages, were at the greatest risk of hormone-sensitive breast cancers.

The new study of pre-menopausal women examined the effect of diet on different types of breast cancer.

The natural female hormones oestrogen and progesterone are essential for a range of bodily functions but they are also responsible for stimulating growth in 70 per of breast cancers - those known as "hormone receptor positive".