Although meat is delicious when cooked over an open flame, grilled-food lovers may want to be a little more cautious when consuming large amounts of meat that is cooked in this specific way.
A new study suggests that people who eat large amounts of meat cooked at high temperatures or over an open flame may have a higher risk of kidney cancer, according to Reuters.
When animal muscle is cooked at high temperatures, it produces substances called heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can cause changes in DNA that may increase risk of cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
“A few previous studies have looked at kidney cancer and these carcinogens, but this is the first study to find an association between one of these specific mutagens (MeIQx) and kidney cancer risk,” said senior author Dr. Xifeng Wu of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
“This is also the first study to look at genetic variants along with consumption of these carcinogens in relation to kidney cancer risk.”
Burning or charring meat creates cancer-causing substances, according to NBC News. During the study, it was also reportedly found that people with kidney cancer also ate fewer fruits and vegetables than people who didn’t have it.
Kidney cancer is among the 10 most common cancers in both men and women, according to the American Cancer Society.
“For reasons that are not totally clear, the rate of new kidney cancers has been rising since the 1990s, although this seems to have leveled off in the past few years," the American Cancer Society added in a statement on its website.
This rise reportedly may be connected to an increase in eating meat.
“The American/Western dietary pattern consists largely of red and processed meats, and the results of the current study suggest that the association between this dietary pattern and cancer may be in part explained by exposure to meat cooking mutagens," wrote Wu’s team.