Cancer

Cancer

A group of diseases in which malignant cells grow out of control and spread to other parts of the body.

Cause Meat Linked to prostate Cancer

Cause Meat Linked to prostate Cancer
Red Processed Meat Linked to prostate Cancer

Men who eat more red meat and processed meat may be at increased risk of developing prostate cancer than those who merely those foods, a large study of U.S. men suggests.

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute found that among more than 175,000 men that went on for nine years, those who ate the most red and processed meats have increased risk of developing any stage of prostate cancer or advanced cancer in particular.

The findings, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, add to a conflict of research on meat consumption and risk of prostate cancer. Since studies in recent years have reached different conclusions, the experts generally believe that the evidence linking red and processed meats to the disease to be limited and inconclusive.

These data do not resolve the issue. But they suggest that the processed meat cooking methods and high heat - ie, broiled and baked - can be especially connected with the risk of prostate cancer, said Dr. Rashmi Sinha and colleagues at the NCI.

For the study, researchers followed 175,343 U.S. men between the ages of 50 and 71 who were surveyed about their diets - including how much and what type of meat they ate normally, and the cooking methods they used.

The researchers used this information to estimate levels of potentially cancer promoting certain chemicals in the diets of men.

Over the next nine years, 10,313 participants in the study developed prostate cancer and 419 died of the disease.

In general, researchers found 20 per cent of men with higher intake of red meat, which in this study included beef and pork were 12 percent more likely than those who consumed less than prostate cancer . That after a number of other factors such as smoking, exercise habits and education were taken into account.

There was a strong connection with advanced prostate cancer - with the risk of being almost a third higher among those who ate more red meat compared with those who ate less.
Similar results were obtained with processed meat. But when the researchers analyzed data from the diet of men below, it was found that processed meats - such as bacon and red meat sausage and hot dogs - are associated with increased risk of prostate cancer, while white processed meats, poultry and cold cuts, they were not.

When it came to cooking methods, which alone was associated with prostate cancer was the grill / barbecue, Sinha's team found.

The finding is consistent with the theory that meat cooked at high temperatures may be particularly linked to cancer because the firing process produces certain chemicals - including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines -- which are known to cause cancer in animals.

Give greater support to the idea, the researchers found that a diet with high levels of PAH called benzo-alpha-pyrene were associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. A similar pattern emerged when the researchers looked at men the intake of nitrites and nitrates - chemicals used to preserve and flavor processed and cured meats like ham, bacon and sausages.

In the body, nitrites and nitrates may promote the production potential cancer promoting chemicals called nitrosamines.

Taken together, the team Sinha writes, the results point to possible mechanisms by which certain meats may promote prostate cancer.

They also emphasize the importance of studying the relationship between certain types of meat and prostate cancer risk, researchers say.

Other studies, they conclude, are still needed to determine whether certain meats, and chemicals in foods are risk factors for prostate cancer fact.

Obesity Linked to Many Cancer

Up to 100,000 cases of cancer can be prevented in the U.S. each year if Americans get rid of their excess body fat.

That's according to estimates published by the American Institute for Cancer Research. Estimates indicate that heart disease, diabetes and joint problems are not diseases that only in the rampant obesity that is causing havoc.

The group says that overweight and obesity could be caused by more than 6% of all cases, some 1.6 million cancer diagnosed in the U.S. each year.

A 2007 report of the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Foundation for Research on Cancer reviewed hundreds of studies and found what investigators called "compelling evidence" that obesity was linked to some cancers. These include cancers of the esophagus, pancreas and kidneys. Also included colorectal cancer and endometrial cancer (a form of cancer of the uterus).

The researchers also said it is probable that excess abdominal fat is a cause of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

The experts took the estimates of the influence of obesity on cancer and applied to a breakdown of cases about 1.6 million U.S. cancer per year.

The researchers estimated that excess body fat causes 33,000 cases of breast cancer every year, almost one sixth of all cases in postmenopausal women. Obesity may be to blame for almost 21,000 cases of endometrial cancer and more than 13,000 colorectal cancer cases per year.

The researchers note that the figures are only estimates and that individual cases of cancer may have many interrelated causes.

"We believe these estimates are as good as it is achievable, given the information available," says Tim Byers, MD, PhD, acting director of the University of Colorado Cancer Center and co-author of the report.

Cancer is most often attributed to influences such as smoking and exposure to other pollutants, which is blamed for obesity. Smoking causes malignancies, many more of excess body fat.

But Larry Kolonel, MD, PhD, deputy director of the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, said there were strong reasons to believe that excess fat can lead to cancer. Fat cells produce estrogen, which is now known to be a factor in breast cancer and endometrial cancer. The adipose tissue also affects how the body metabolizes the insulin, which can alter the way sugar is processed and how they ultimately into the cells.

Adipose tissue, also known as adipose tissue itself produces hormones that could play a role in the promotion of cancer cells, Kolonel said. It has also been shown to produce chronic low-grade inflammation in the body. That inflammation may trigger the immune response, which also may be linked.

"It is plausible that adipose tissue may be a risk factor or a causal factor of cancer," he says.

Estimates suggest that maintaining a normal weight could prevent half of all cancers of the endometrium, one third of all cancers of the esophagus, and a quarter of all kidney cancers.

"We can have a major influence," says Kolonel.
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