Overcooked meat ups bladder cancer risk

According to new study, researchers found that people who ate well-done meat were twice as likely to develop bladder cancer than those who preferred it rare.

Based on over 1,700 people, the findings were presented at a US cancer research conference. The risk was highest for those who ate well-done red meat like steaks, pork chops & bacon, the University of Texas team found, but even fried chicken & fish upped the risk. Three major types of cancer-causing chemicals, called heterocyclic amines, raised the risk by more than two & a half.

In the 12-year study, researchers looked at how people metabolized meat, & found that having certain genes made people almost five times as likely to develop bladder cancer if they ate a lot of red meat. “These results strongly support what we suspected – people who eat a lot of red meat, particularly well-done red meat such as fried or barbecued, seem to 've a higher likelihood of bladder cancer,” lead researcher Xifeng Wu told the American Association for Cancer Research.