Barbecue cancer risk may depend on genes

Tuesday April 20th, 2010

Barbecued and flame-grilled meat can aggravate the risk of one form of cancer, researchers reported yesterday.

The new study links well-done meat to an increased risk of developing bladder cancer.

Fried meat also poses risks because it involves cooking meat at high temperatures, researchers said.

The findings come from a study of some 1,600 people reported to a major American cancer conference yesterday.

Researchers said the findings linked eating meat to risk of bladder cancer - but also showed that those who ate well-cooked meat faced the most risk. Beef steaks, pork chops and bacon were also linked to increased risk.

The researchers said there were big differences in individual susceptibility - based on up to seven genes.

The study involved comparing patients with cancer with healthy people.

Researcher Professor Xifeng Wu, of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, said: "These results strongly support what we suspected: people, who eat a lot of red meat, particularly well-done red meat, such as fried or barbecued, seem to have a higher likelihood of bladder cancer.

"This effect is compounded if they carry high unfavorable genotypes in the HCA-metabolism pathway."

The findings were reported to the conference of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington DC, USA.

Tags: Cancer | Diet & Food | North America

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