SYDNEY: Eating too much red and processed meat can increase your risk of developing a range of cancers, says a detailed eight-year study of nearly half a million people.

The study, which is the first to assess the overall risk from meat of developing a range of cancers, found that the people surveyed who ate the most were up to 60 per cent more likely to develop some types of cancer than those who ate the least.

"A particular strength of this study includes the large size of the cohort, which enabled us to investigate low-incidence cancers that have not previously been [assessed]," write the authors in the journal PLoS Medicine.

The study controlled for the influence of a number of other lifestyle factors, which might also increase the risk of developing cancer, such as smoking.

Cross and her team suggest that certain carcinogenic compounds in meat – including N-nitroso compounds, heterocyclic amines, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – could be linked to the increased rates of cancer.