by Bob Yirka, Medical Xpress

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A team of health researchers at the National Institute of Gastroenterology, in Italy, has found an association between regularly eating poultry and early death due to digestive system cancers. In their study published in the journal Nutrients, the group analyzed health-related data for 4, 869 adults living in Italy over a 20-year period.

Prior research has suggested that eating poultry (mainly chicken) is healthier than eating red meat as a protein source because it poses less risk of contributing to cardiovascular disease and some gastrointestinal cancers. But now, this latest research suggests eating chicken on a regular basis could be linked to certain types of gastrointestinal cancers and early death.

The data for this study was collected during interviews and by medical staff conducting health examinations. Each of the people studied also filled out questionnaires regarding their eating habits. Their health status was evaluated using medical records and regional databases that allowed the team to include deaths in the study as well. One of the factors they looked at included how often subjects ate meat or poultry; another was the rate of development of gastrointestinal cancers and resulting deaths.

The researchers found a higher incidence of gastrointestinal cancer development and also early deaths related to those cancer cases among people who ate more than 300 grams of poultry per week. The risk of dying at that level, they found, was 27% higher compared to people who ate just 100 grams of poultry per week or less.

The research team acknowledges that more research is required to understand their findings. They were not able to determine, for example, if the increased rate of death from eating poultry was due directly to consuming the poultry or if it was related to how it was cooked, such as whether it was fried or breaded, or if certain seasonings were added. Also, while the study adjusted for some health and lifestyle factors, one potentially serious limitation was physical activity, such as amount and types of exercise, was not measured.

More information: Caterina Bonfiglio et al, Does Poultry Consumption Increase the Risk of Mortality for Gastrointestinal Cancers? A Preliminary Competing Risk Analysis, Nutrients (2025). DOI: 10.3390/nu17081370  Journal information: Nutrients

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