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Scientist William G. Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., was among
the first to discover that eating a lot of fried or otherwise charred
meat — particularly red meat — can lead to prostate cancer.
Over the last few years, he’s been learning more about why
this happens, and his work dovetails beautifully with that of Angelo
De Marzo, Elizabeth Platz, and other Brady scientists who are investigating
the roles of PIA (proliferative inflammatory atrophy, a precursor
to cancer — see story)
and inflammation in causing prostate cancer. “The overcooking
of meats is now well known to trigger the formation of cancercausing
substances,” says
Nelson. One of these, called PhIP, causes prostate cancer in rats
that eat it. Just as burning wood causes ashes to form, charring
meat causes PhIP to form; when you eat meat that’s too welldone,
you eat PhIP, too.
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PhIP causes prostate
cancer in rats
that eat it. Just as burning wood
causes ashes to form, charring
meat causes PhIP to form; when
you eat meat that’s too well-done,
you eat PhIP, too.
“Over the
past year, our new findings have suggested that PhIP consumption
may lead to prostate cancer in rats by first causing mutations,
and then causing an inflammatory reaction. We suspect that the
inflammatory reaction is what drives the mutated cells to become
cancerous.” In prostate tissue samples studied under the
microscope, this mutation and the added stress of inflammation
lead to PIA. Inflammation is the critical factor, and it isn’t
just caused by food; it can have many causes, including some infections,
and other dietary carcinogens. “The implications of this
are really exciting — that anti-inflammatory agents may help
prevent prostate cancer.” The work of Nelson and colleagues
was recently published in Cancer Research, and in the Nature
Review of Cancer. |
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