Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41748939›Full record

ArticleBritish journal of cancer2026

Vegetarian diets and cancer risk: pooled analysis of 1.8 million women and men in nine prospective studies on three continents.

Yashvee Dunneram, Jia Yi Lee, Cody Z Watling, Izabella Lawson, Mahboubeh Parsaeian, Gary E Fraser, Fayth M Butler, Dorairaj Prabhakaran, Krithiga Shridhar, Dimple Kondal and 21 more

Erratum issuedAbstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in British journal of cancer, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Vegetarian diets and esophageal cancer risk.British journal of cancer · 2026
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Review
  7. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

31 authors.

Yashvee Dunneram *Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1012-7350
Jia Yi Lee *Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Cody Z Watling *Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Izabella LawsonCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Mahboubeh ParsaeianCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1928-5424
Gary E FraserCentre for Nutrition, Healthy Lifestyles and Disease Prevention, School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, USA.
Fayth M ButlerCentre for Nutrition, Healthy Lifestyles and Disease Prevention, School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, USA.
Dorairaj PrabhakaranCentre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi, India.
Krithiga ShridharCentre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi, India.
Dimple KondalCentre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi, India.
Viswanathan MohanMadras Diabetes Research Foundation (ICMR Collaborating Centre of Excellence) and Dr. Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre (IDF Centre of Excellence in Diabetes Care), Chennai, India.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5038-6210
Mohammed K AliEmory Global Diabetes Research Center, Woodruff Health Sciences Center and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
K M Venkat NarayanEmory Global Diabetes Research Center, Woodruff Health Sciences Center and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8621-5405
Nikhil TandonDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Tammy Y N TongCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Ruth C TravisCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Tina H T ChiuDepartment of Nutritional Science, Fu-Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Ming-Nan LinDepartment of Family Medicine, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Chiayi, Taiwan.
Chin-Lon LinBuddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan.
Hsin-Chou YangInstitute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6853-7881
Yu-Jen LiangInstitute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3324-213X
Darren C GreenwoodSchool of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7035-3096
Gillian K ReevesCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Keren PapierCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Sarah FloudCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6078-9117
Rashmi SinhaDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2466-7462
Linda M LiaoDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1923-5294
Erikka LoftfieldDivision of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3573-8748
Janet E CadeNutritional Epidemiology Group, School of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3421-0121
Timothy J KeyCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. tim.key@ndph.ox.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2294-307X
Aurora Perez-CornagoCancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Funding

Cancer Research UK (CRUK) C8221/A29017Cancer Research UK (CRUK) C8221/A29186RCUK | Medical Research Council (MRC) MR/Y013662/1Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust (Wellcome) LEAP 205212/Z/16/ZWorld Cancer Research Fund (WCRF UK) 2019/1953
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundVegetarian diets might influence cancer risk.

methodsWe studied 1,645,555 meat eaters, 57,016 poultry eaters, 42,910 pescatarians, 63,147 vegetarians and 8849 vegans in 9 cohorts (UK, US, Taiwan, India). After a median 16 years follow-up, incident cancers were: 4504 mouth and pharynx, 1308 oesophagus (squamous cell), 2105 oesophagus (adenocarcinoma), 3578 stomach, 30,528 colorectum, 2970 liver, 8030 pancreas, 3077 lung (never smokers), 61,368 breast, 11,220 endometrium, 8076 ovary, 45,946 prostate, 7193 kidney, 6869 bladder, 11,651 non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 4658 multiple myeloma and 7306 leukaemia. Multivariable Cox regression was used to estimate cohort-specific hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and the results were combined using meta-analysis.

resultsCompared to meat eaters, poultry eaters had lower risk of prostate cancer (0.93, 0.88-0.98), pescatarians had lower risks of colorectal (0.85, 0.77-0.93), breast (0.93, 0.88-0.98) and kidney cancer (0.73, 0.58-0.93), vegetarians had lower risks of cancers of the pancreas (0.79, 0.65-0.97), breast (0.91, 0.86-0.97), prostate (0.88, 0.79-0.97), kidney (0.72, 0.57-0.92) and multiple myeloma (0.69, 0.51-0.93) but higher risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus (1.93, 1.30-2.87), and vegans had higher risk of colorectal cancer (1.40, 1.12-1.75).

conclusionsVegetarian diets might influence risk for several cancers. The generalisability should be considered cautiously.

Indexed as

Diet, VegetarianNeoplasmsAdultAgedAnimalsFemaleHumansIndiaMaleMeatMiddle AgedProspective StudiesRisk FactorsTaiwanUnited KingdomUnited States

Identifiers

PMID41748939
PMCPMC13035945

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.