Red meat linked to increased risk of bowel cancer

The UK media today reported that red meat increases the risk of bowel cancer: e.g. Telegraph

35% increased risk screamed the headlines. But, as fascinating as the finding is none of the reports I saw mentioned the incidence rate and how low that actually is compared to, say, deaths from road accidents or obesity-related heart disease. No absolute risk was mentioned. If it’s 100 in a ten-thousand, then a 35% increase would then be 135 in 10000…

So, a 35% increased risk of something not very risky is not necessarily as significant as the cancer research organisations are claiming. Moreover, just one portion of any fish once a week can reduce the risk by 30%. So, presumably you can eat bacon, burgers and bangers 5 days a week and fish at weekends to almost cancel the positive effect with a negative.