Well-done meat increases risk of cancer

With the summer months coming up, many people are starting to fire up their grills. When cooking meat, many people naturally decide to err on the side of caution and cook their meat a little bit more well done. This cooking strategy has been shown to kill off bacteria and help prevent food poisoning.

While cooking meat to a crisp has been shown to prevent food poisoning and other health risks, recent studies have shown that cooking meat well done could pose some other health concerns. According to recently released research completed by the University of Texas Anderson Cancer Center, cooking meat at high temperatures or cooking meat until it is well done could increase the consumer’s chances of obtaining bladder cancer.

The presenter of the study stated that well cooked meats generate higher levels of HCAs. These HCAs have been shown that they can cause cancer. The study, which analyzed 1,700 people over a 12 year period, concluded that people who already had 7 or more unfavorable genotypes had 5 times the risk of obtaining cancer when consuming well-done red meat. Approximately half the study’s participants had cancer.

The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute of the United States.