Avoid Grilled Meat For Breast Cancer Survival
We’ve known for some time that regular consumption of grilled, barbecued and smoked meats is linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. The concern is that meat cooked at high temperatures is a source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other carcinogenic chemicals. Newly published research suggests that continuing to eat meat cooked this way after diagnosis and treatment of cancer can adversely affect survival. Researchers from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill asked 1,508 Long Island, New York breast cancer patients about their dietary intake of grilled, barbecued and smoked meat in each decade of life and again five years following the initial interviews. After 17.6 years of follow up, the researchers determined that women who ate the most grilled, barbecued or smoked meat before they were diagnosed were 23 percent more likely to die as a result of breast cancer than women whose consumption of meats cooked in this way was lowest. Continuing to eat meat cooked at high temperatures after breast cancer diagnosis made matters worse, and was linked a 31 percent higher risk of death from any cause.
Source:
Humberto Parada Jr. et al, “Grilled, Barbecued, and Smoked Meat Intake and Survival Following Breast Cancer.” JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, January, 201 doi: 10.1093/jnci/djw299
Also in this week’s bulletin:
