But recent reports also indicate that high consumption of meat may be more dangerous than helpful to human health. A recent research from the University of Southern California and Cancer Prevention Institute of California has found that cooking red meat at high temperatures, especially pan-fried red meat may increase the risk of advanced prostate cancer by as much as 40 per cent.
The study, published August 16 in the online journal, Carcinogenesis, provides new evidence on how red meat and its cooking practices may increase the risk for prostate cancer. Associate Professor of preventive medicine at Keck School of Medicine, USC, Mariana Stern, led the analyses for the study tagged, Red Meat and Poultry, Cooking Practices, Genetic Susceptibility and Risk of Prostate Cancer: Results from the California Collaborative Prostate Cancer Study.
Previously studies emphasised an association between diets high in red meat and risk of prostate cancer, but evidence was limited and there was no link to the cooking method. According to the current research, attention to cooking methods of red meat, shows the risk of prostate cancer may be a result of potent chemical carcinogens formed when meats are cooked at high temperatures.
The researchers examined data collated from nearly 2,000 men who participated in the California Collaborative Prostate Cancer Study, a multiethnic, case-control study. Participants completed a comprehensive questionnaire that evaluated amount and type of meat intake, including poultry and processed red meat.
Information regarding cooking practices, including pan-frying, oven-broiling and grilling, was also obtained using colour photographs that displayed the level at which the meat was cooked. The result shows that more than 1,000 of the men included in the study were diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer.
Stern says men who ate more than 1.5 servings of pan-fried red meat per week increased their risk of advanced prostate cancer by 30 per cent and men who ate more than 2.5 servings of red meat cooked at high temperatures were 40 per cent more likely to have advanced prostate cancer.
The researchers also considered specific types of red meat and found that hamburgers – but not steak – were linked to increased risk of prostate cancer.
“We speculate that these findings are a result of different levels of carcinogen accumulation found in hamburgers, given that they can attain higher internal and external temperatures faster than steak,” Stern says.
They also found that men with diets high in baked poultry had a lower risk of advanced prostate cancer, while consumption of pan-fried poultry was associated with increased risk.
Stern notes that pan-frying, regardless of meat type, consistently led to an increased risk of prostate cancer. The researchers do not know why pan-frying poses a higher risk for prostate cancer, but they suspect it is due to the formation of the DNA-damaging carcinogens –heterocyclic amines – during the cooking of red meat and poultry.
“The observations from this study alone are not enough to make any health recommendations, but given the few modifiable risk factors known for prostate cancer, the understanding of dietary factors and cooking methods are of high public health relevance,” Stern says.
Another study from Harvard School of Public Health researchers has also found that red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of total cardiovascular and cancer mortality. The results from study equally shows that substituting other healthy protein sources, such as fish, poultry, nuts, and legumes was associated with a lower risk of mortality.
The study, led by a research fellow at Harvard, An Pan, was published online in Archives of Internal Medicine on March 12, 2012.
“Our study adds more evidence to the health risks of eating high amounts of red meat, which has been associated with type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers in other studies,” Pan says.
However, an analysis was also published in March 2012 in the online journal, Cancer, raises some hope. The analysis by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre has found that circumcision before a male’s first sexual intercourse may help protect against prostate cancer.
According to the researchers, infections are known to cause cancer. Some of these sexually transmitted infections may contribute to the development of prostate cancer and certain sexually transmitted infections can be prevented by circumcision.
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