By David Liu, PHD

Friday Aug 17, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Eating too much well done grilled or barbecued red meat may increase risk of aggressive prostate cancer, according to a study in PLoS One.

The study led by S. Punnen of University of California San Francisco in San Francisco, California and colleagues showed higher intake of any ground beef or processed meats were positively associated with aggressive prostate cancer and eating high amounts of ground beef was associated with 130 percent increased risk for aggressive prostate cancer.

The case-control study involved 470 cases of aggressive prostate cancer and 512 controls who not only reported their meat intake but also their meat preparation and doneness when asked to answer a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire.

The authors found the source potentially responsible for the increase in the aggressive prostate cancer was grilled or barbecued meat and more well-done meat tended to be associated with a higher risk of aggressive prostate cancer.

Individuals who had highest intake of well done or very well cooked ground beef were 104 percent or 51 percent more likely than those who did not eat ground beef to develop aggressive prostate cancer respectively, the authors found.

In contrast, consumption of rare/medium cooked ground beef was not correlated with aggressive prostate cancer, suggesting that meat preparation methods may be responsible for the increased risk for aggressive prostate cancer. 

The authors tested meats prepared at high temperature and found increased amounts of two mutagens 2-amino-3,8-Dimethylimidazo-[4,5-f]Quinolaxine (MelQx) and 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo(4,5-f)qunioxaline (DiMelQx) in the meats, which were associated with 69 percent and 53 percent increased risk for aggressive prostate cancer,respectively, when high intake was compared to low intake.

The researchers concluded "Higher intake of well-done grilled or barbecued red meat and ensuing carcinogens could increase the risk of aggressive prostate cancer."

Previous studies have showed that eating dairy products is associated with increased risk for prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is diagnosed in more than 220,000 men each year in the United States. The disease in many cases are non-aggressive, but aggressive or advanced prostate cancer and complications of the disease and treatment kill about 40,000 each in the U.S.