Please consider reducing your red meat intake

NBC NEWS -- There has been a lot of debate on the effects of meat on our health.

Now, a new study finds that when you eat red meat may raise the risk of breast cancer in women.

Although most studies suggest there is little or no association between breast cancer and red meat, researchers say those studies focus on older women.

New data, which is published in the latest edition of the British Medical Journal, indicates that young women eating a lot of red meat could increase the risk of developing breast cancer earlier in life.

A group of Harvard researchers looked at data on over 88,000 premenopausal women who took part in the famous Nurses' Health Study II.

All participants completed a questionnaire on diet in 1991 when the women were between the ages of 36 to 45.

Investigators found women who ate a lot of red meat had a 22 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer.

Women who ate more poultry, fish, vegetables, nuts, along with less red meat had a 17 percent lower risk of breast cancer overall.

Researchers believe that replacing red meat with a combination of other, less fatty proteins may reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Although the study is a good beginning, further research is needed to better understand the relationship between diet at an early age and its risk on breast cancer later in life.