Deep Fried Foods Increase Aggressive Prostate Cancer Risk by One-Third

Prostate cancer will affect one in six men during the course of their lifetime, as nearly a quarter of a million new cases are diagnosed in the US each year. While many cases of the disease remain localized as a growing number of patients adopt a wait and see attitude toward the traditional slash, burn and poison treatment options, aggressive forms of prostate cancer are on the rise, threatening the lives of thousands of men annually.

Carcinogens Formed When Foods are Fried Dramatically Boost Prostate Cancer Risk

Despite ever-increasing awareness that diet and cooking methods plays a direct role in disease prevention and progression, consumption of overcooked and fried foods continues to increase at an alarming rate. A new research study conducted at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA has found that regular consumption of deep-fried foods is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. Publishing in The Prostate, scientists determined the effect appears to be slightly stronger with regard to more aggressive forms of the disease.

Past studies have shown that high heat cooking methods greatly increase the risk of developing not only prostate cancer, but digestive cancers as well. This is the first study to examine how eating fried foods increases the risk of prostate cancer. Study scientists analyzed data from two prior population-based case-control studies involving a total of 1,549 men diagnosed with prostate cancer and 1,492 age-matched healthy controls. Food questionnaires were used to determine consumption of foods including French fries, fried chicken, fried fish and doughnuts. Frequency of eating fried foods was also assessed as part of the overall evaluation.

Eliminate Fried Foods and Replace with Natural Vegetables and Fruits to Slash Cancer Risk

Researchers found that men who ate one or more of these foods at least weekly had an increased risk of prostate cancer that ranged from 30 to 37 percent. The lead study author, Dr. Janet Stanford commented “The link between prostate cancer and select deep-fried foods appeared to be limited to the highest level of consumption, defined in our study as more than once a week, which suggests that regular consumption of deep-fried foods confers particular risk for developing prostate cancer.”

The team determined that frying dramatically increases the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGE’s) on the surface of foods that triggers the formation of carcinogens such as acrylamides (found in carbohydrate-rich foods such as French fries), heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (chemicals formed when meat is cooked at high temperatures), aldehydes and acrolein. Complete avoidance of foods cooked at high temperatures or fried will dramatically lower the risk of developing prostate cancer and other digestive cancers as well.

Toxic Compounds in Fried Foods Cause Cancer and Brain Deterioration

Many health-minded individuals understand that eating fried or overcooked foods is unhealthy due to the chemical transition of normally stable fats to trans-fats that have been shown to dramatically increase heart attack risk. Researchers from the University of the Basque in Spain publishing in the journal Food Chemistry are the first to discover compounds released from common cooking oils that significantly increase the risk of neurologic degenerative diseases and a variety of different cancers.

Breakdown chemical structures known as aldehydes are formed in cooked vegetable oils such as sunflower oil when heated to normal frying temperatures, and are also released into the air where they can be inhaled. Alternate food preparation methods such as roasting, steaming and broiling are safe methods of cooking foods to avoid the dangerous release of aldehydes and afford a shield against cancer forming particles and neurodegenerative decline.

Many Common Vegetable Oils Produce Dangerous Aldehydes When Heated

Prior studies have identified the health degrading nature of aldehydes, where their presence in organisms is linked to different types of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Researchers also know that these compounds remain in vegetable oils after they have been used to fry foods and wanted to determine how they interact with proteins, hormones and enzymes in the body to impede its correct functioning.

The study team heated three types of oil (olive, sunflower and flaxseeds) in an industrial deep fryer at 190 degrees Celsius for a period of forty hours (twenty hours was used for the flaxseed oil). This length of time was used to approximate oils used commercially at a restaurant where fryers remain heated for extended periods of time. The oils were then analyzed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry techniques.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a Healthier Oil for Cooking

Researchers found that the sunflower and flaxseed oils degraded significantly and are the ones that create the most toxic aldehydes in the least amount of frying time. These oils are high in polyunsaturated fats (linoleic and linolenic) and breakdown quickly to form the health-demoting aldehyde compounds that permeate the air and penetrate into the food. Olive oil, known to be high in monounsaturated fat, generates aldehydes to a lesser degree and after cooking much longer.

The research team concluded “The fact that significant concentrations of these toxic compounds were found in some oils … is a cause of concern for human health.” Although the scientists did not use coconut oil in their tests, studies have shown that the medium-chain fatty acid does not rapidly convert to deadly trans fats when heated, and may be less likely to produce aldehydes when compared to other vegetable oils. While fried foods are not part of a healthy eating plan, it is important to avoid cooking with low flash-point oils that produce aldehydes and increase the risk of neurologic disorders and cancer.