BBC NEWS | Health | Vegetarians 'avoid more cancers'

Yes lower rates of some cancers, but not across the board.

BBC NEWS | Health | Vegetarians 'avoid more cancers':

"researchers said they found marked differences between meat-eaters and vegetarians in the propensity to cancers of the lymph and the blood, with vegetarians just over half as likely to develop these forms of the disease.

In the case of multiple myeloma, a relatively rare cancer of the bone marrow, vegetarians were 75% less likely to develop the disease than meat-eaters....The reduction was less notable for fish-eaters with these cancers. The reasons, researchers said, were unclear, but potential mechanisms could include viruses and mutation-causing compounds in meat - or alternatively that vegetables confer special protection."

BUT

"...reduction for vegetarians was not found with cancers of the bowel, one of the most common forms of the disease. The vegetarians in the group in fact had a slightly higher rate of cancers of the colon and the rectum, although not significantly so. But the relative risk for fish-eaters and vegetarians of cervical cancer was twice that of meat-eaters."