That well-done steak you crave to sink your teeth into, could have a deadlier bite on your health as it could cause colon cancer.
People who loved their meat well-cooked were six times more vulnerable to getting colon cancer as compared to vegetarians or those who eat little meat, observed United States-based scientist Prof David M. DeMarini.
He said meat cooked at high temperature put most people at risk for the cancer.
"Based on studies on 350 volunteers in America, those who ate meat cooked at high temperature had more mutagenic properties in their urine than those who consumed low temperature-cooked meat.
"Red meat cooked at high temperature released more mutagenic properties into a person's DNA, as compared to cooking it at low temperature," added DeMarini.
He was presenting his study, 'Fried Meat and Colon Cancer: Reduction in DNA Damage by Dietary Antimutagens in Humans' at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Seventh National Health Science Symposium at a hotel here today.
DeMarini, who is a consultant at the Environmental Carcinogenesis Division, US Environmental Protection Agency Consultant, said however, that antimutagens such as cruciferous vegetables (brocolli, cauliflower, cabbages) and yogurt could help protect the human body to a small extent against such mutagenic properties.
