By david Liu, PHD

Saturday Jan 7, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study in the Jan, 2012 issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests eating too much red meat may increase risk for kidney cancer or renal cell carcinoma.

C.R. Daniel and colleagues of National Cancer Institute in Rockville MD conducted the US cohort study of 492,186 men and women for an average of 9 years, and found those whose intake of red meat (62.7 grams per day) was in the highest quintile were 19 percent more likely to develop kidney cancer, compared with those whose intake was in the lowest quintile 9.8 grams per day.

Those who had the highest intake of red meat were also twice as likely to develop papillary adenocarcinomas as those having the lowest intake.

Similarly, "intakes of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), a marker of PAHs, and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenyl-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), an HCA, were associated with a significant 20-30% elevated risk of RCC and a 2-fold increased risk of papillary RCC," the researchers reported.

Heme iron, heterocyclic amines (HCA), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), nitrate, and nitrite concentrations in cooked and processed meats were considered in the study.

Kidney cancer was diagnosed in an estimated 60,920 people in the United States in 2011 and the disease killed about 13,120 people in the same year in the country.

Recent studies have already associated red meat consumption to increased risk for colorectal cancer and stroke among other things.