Charred Meat May Double Risk of Cancer

  • Jim Hawk

Click her for Lao version/ຄລິກບ່ອນນີ້ເພື່ອຟັງພາສາລາວ. Meat cooked at high temperatures to the point of burning and charring may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer.


Some people say there's nothing better than the taste of meat grilled over an open fire, but eating too much of it appears to increase the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Doctor Kristen Anderson, at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, researched the effects of charred meat in a study involving more than 62 thousand Americans. Anderson said:

"And when we've analyzed the data, we see increasing risk of pancreatic cancer - as much as two-fold in some of the highest categories - with increasing consumption."

Anderson saw the higher risk in people who ate more than one and a half servings of charred meat per day. Charring meat creates carcinogens - cancer-causing chemicals - in much the same way burning tobacco does.
Pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly, killing half of those stricken within three months, and Anderson says such cancer was less prevalent among people who ate mostly baked or stewed meat. Anderson recommended:

"If you cook meat just to doneness, and don't form a lot of external charring or brownness, you don't form high levels of these compounds. If they do form on the meat, you can just cut the burned part off and avoid them."

Anderson added that there are other ways to reduce the risk of cancer-causing compounds. She says:
Wrap it in foil, wrap it in leaves of some sort - corn husks that are soaked in water, some people cook meat in that with juices around it. So anything that helps break the contact directly with the hot surface is a way to help reduce the level of these carcinogens.

Charred meat's link to pancreatic cancer is only its latest association with the disease. Earlier studies have tied it to breast cancer as well prostate and colon cancer. Anderson's study was presented earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Translated by Buasawan Simmala

ຟັງສຽງ ເປັນພາສາລາວໄດ້ ໂດຍການກົດປຸ່ມຢູ່ຂວາມືຂ້າງເທິງ