Red meat consumption linked to kidney cancer risk

People who eat lots of red meat may have a higher risk of some types of kidney cancer, suggests a large U.S. study.

Previous studies examining the link between red meat and kidney cancer arrived at mixed conclusions, according to Dr. Carrie Daniel, from the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland, and her colleagues.

For their study they used data on close to 500,000 U.S. adults age 50 and older, who were surveyed on their dietary habits, including meat consumption, and then followed for an average of nine years.

During that time, about 1,800 of them – less than half a percent – were diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma. Those cases included 498 clear cell and 115 papillary adenocarcinomas, the researchers reported online December 14 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

On average, men in the study ate two or three ounces of red meat per day, compared to one or two ounces among women. Participants in the top quintile of red meat consumption – about four ounces per day  – were 19% more likely to be diagnosed with kidney cancer than those in the bottom quintile, eating less than one ounce per day.

That was after accounting for other aspects of diet and lifestyle that could have influenced cancer risks, such as age, race, fruit and vegetable consumption, smoking and drinking and other medical conditions including high blood pressure and diabetes.

When the researchers looked at the most common types of kidney cancers, they found that the association between red meat and cancer was stronger for papillary cancers, but there was no effect for clear-cell kidney cancers.

People who ate the most well-done grilled and barbecued meat – and therefore had the highest exposure to carcinogenic chemicals from the cooking process – also had an extra risk of kidney cancer compared to those who didn't eat meat cooked that way.

Dr. Daniel and her colleagues said more research is needed to figure out why red meat may be linked to some types of kidney cancers but not others.

But for now, meat-related cooking chemicals "can be reduced by avoiding direct exposure of meat to an open flame or a hot metal surface, reducing the cooking time, and using a microwave oven to partially cook meat before exposing it to high temperatures," Dr. Daniel told Reuters Health in an email.

"Our findings," she concluded, "support the dietary recommendations for cancer prevention currently put forth by the American Cancer Society – limit intake of red and processed meats and prepare meat by cooking methods such as baking and broiling."


Source: 
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/756157?sssdmh=dm1.747366&src=nldne