Grilled meat bad for breast cancer survivors

Frequent consumption of grilled, barbecued and smoked meat may increase the mortality risk among breast cancer survivors, new research suggests. "High intake of grilled/barbecued and smoked meat may increase mortality after breast cancer," said the study.

For the study, Humberto Parada Jr from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and colleagues evaluated the link between grilled/barbecued and smoked meats and the survival time after breast cancer.

High-temperature cooked meat intake is a highly prevalent source of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other carcinogenic chemicals and has been associated with breast cancer incidence, but this study assessed whether intake is related to survival after breast cancer.

In a study population of 1,508 women with breast cancer, participants were interviewed and asked about their consumption of four types of grilled, barbecued, and smoked meat.

The women were asked about their intake in each decade of life and were asked to specify the seasons in which the foods were most frequently consumed.

At the five-year follow-up, participants responded to the same questions, which asked about the time period since the original questionnaire. Among the 1,508 case women, 597 deaths were identified, 237 (39.7 per cent) of which were related to breast cancer, after a median duration of follow-up of 17.6 years.

Compared with low intake, high intake of grilled/barbecued and smoked meat prior to diagnosis was associated with a 23 per cent increased hazard of all-cause mortality.

High intake of smoked meat intake was associated with a 17 per cent increased hazard of all-cause and a 23 per cent increased hazard of breast cancer-specific mortality, showed the findings published in JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute.