Deep-Fried Foods Associated With Higher Prostate Cancer Risk

Here's news that might make you want to take it easy on the fries.

Research published in the journal The Prostate shows that deep-fried foods may not just wreak havoc on your waistline -- they could also increase risk of prostate cancer.

Specifically, researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found an association between eating deep-fried foods more than once a week and an increased prostate cancer risk.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to look at the association between intake of deep-fried food and risk of prostate cancer," study researcher Janet. L Stanford, Ph.D., said in a statement.

For the study, researchers looked at the deep-fried food consumption patterns of 1,549 men with prostate cancer and 1,492 men without prostate cancer, all of whom were either Caucasian or African-American, and who were between ages 35 and 74.

Researchers found that those who ate the most deep-fried foods in the study -- more than once a week -- had a 30 to 37 percent higher risk of prostate cancer, even after taking into account factors like family history, age, race, BMI and PSA levels.

Stanford noted several possible reasons for this association: For one, deep-frying causes compounds to form in the food that could potentially cause cancer, such as acrylamide in French fries and heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are found in high-temperature cooked meat.

Compounds linked with oxidative stress, called advanced glycation endproducts, are also present in higher amounts in deep-fried foods, Stanford noted.

Deep-frying is not the only fry-related cooking method that's been linked with an increased prostate cancer risk -- a study published last year in the journal Carcinogenesis also suggested that regularly eating pan-fried meat could raise risk of the condition, too.

That study, conducted by researchers from the University of Southern California and Cancer Prevention Institute of California, showed an association between eating one-and-a-half servings of pan-fried meat each week and a 30 percent higher risk of advanced prostate cancer.