Hold the beef and the bacon.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States and the second most common cause of cancer deaths. The American Cancer Society estimates that colorectal cancer caused more than 56,000 deaths in 2005. Obesity, physical inactivity, and high alcohol consumption are some of the factors associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. An estimated 70 percent of colorectal cancers in Western countries could be avoided by lifestyle changes. Some studies have shown that one of these changes could be switching to a vegetarian diet; vegetarians have been shown to have a lower risk of colon cancer than non-vegetarians. A recent study of more than 478,000 men and women from 10 European countries examined the effect of meat, poultry, and fish intake on colorectal cancer risk. In this group of mainly non-vegetarians, higher fish intake was associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer; poultry consumption did not appear to affect cancer risk. People with high intakes (more than 5 ounces per day) of red meat (beef, veal, pork, and lamb) and processed meat (ham, bacon, sausage, lunch meat, etc.) had a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer than did people averaging less than an ounce of red and processed meat daily. Veggie burgers, anyone?

Norat T, Bingham S, Ferrari P, et al. 2005. Meat, fish, and colorectal cancer risk: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition. J Natl Cancer Inst 97:906-16.