Meat, cooking methods and risk of colorectal cancer: a case-control study in Armenia

Abstract

Objectives: The study aimed to explore an association between meat consumption, its cooking methods and risk of colorectal cancer in Armenia. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cause of death among patients with neoplastic diseases and the sixth cause of death in Armenia. Study Methods and Design: The study utilized a case-control design. Seventy-seven patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer during the study period from August 17, 2002 to August 20, 2003 were included in the study as cases. The control group was selected from healthy hospital visitors, who were free of the disease, and were not related to the patient. The controls were matched with the cases by age and gender. Information was collected using telephone or face-to-face interviews by means of interviewer-administered questionnaires. Results: The analysis showed that the risk of having colorectal cancer increased with everyday meat use compared with not-daily meat use (adjusted for frequency of fried and boiled sausage use and preference of fried meat surface: OR=3.2; 95% CI 1.0- 18.5; p-value 0.044), with preference of heavily browned surface of fried meat compared with lightly browned (adjusted for daily meat use and frequency of fried and boiled sausage use: OR= 15.4; 95% CI 2.8-85.8; p-value 0.002). There was no statistically significant risk of having colorectal cancer across different types of meat as well as across preferred cooking methods for different meat types. The results of the study have also shown a protective effect of frequent use (more than once/week) of boiled and fried sausage use on risk of colorectal cancer (adjusted for daily meat use and preference of fried meat surface: OR=0.03; 95% CI 0.004-0.3; p-value 0.002, and OR=0.1; 95% CI 0.008-0.5; p-value 0.008, respectively). Conclusions: The study has demonstrated evidence that there is a need for a nutrition educational program to make the information available for the public. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended to avoid use of heavily browned surface meat and shift from ii daily to more rare meat use. However, more research is needed to obtain data that might serve for decision-making regarding nation-wide preventive programs. Further, protective effect of frequent use of boiled and fried sausages need to be proved by additional research, as the results are controversial compared with previous studies.