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Eating pan-fried meat may increase men's risk of prostate cancer

Category: Prostate

Men who regularly eat meat cooked through pan frying may be elevating their risk of screening positive for prostate cancer through a lab test, according to scientists from the University of Southern California and Cancer Prevention Institute of California.

Previous studies had indicated a possible link between red meat and cancer. In order to investigate whether cooking methods played a role in the development of malignancies, a team of researchers conducted a study that included almost 2,000 men, more than half of whom had advanced prostate cancer.

The subjects answered questionnaires about the type of meat they ate and how they cooked it.

"We found that men who ate more than 1.5 servings of pan-fried red meat per week increased their risk of advanced prostate cancer by 30 percent," said researcher Mariana Stern, Ph.D. "In addition, men who ate more than 2.5 servings of red meat cooked at high temperatures were 40 percent more likely to have advanced prostate cancer."

When it came to poultry, the risk increase was greater for pan-fried meat than it was for the baked variety.

Men who are concerned about their chances of developing prostate cancer can take a lab test to measure for certain proteins.