Fried Foods May Fry Your Prostate

Carl Lowe | Feb 08, 2013 | Comments 0

If you’re a man who regularly downs deep-fried foods like fried chicken, French fries and doughnuts, you have an increased chance of prostate cancer. And eating these foods significantly boosts your risk of developing the most deadly, aggressive types of cancer.

An investigation at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Research Center shows that men who report eating french fries, fried chicken, fried fish and/or doughnuts at least once a week more frequently suffer prostate cancer compared to men who say they eat such foods less than once a month.

“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,” says researcher Dr. Janet Stanford.

The researchers the link to cancer stems from chemical changes instigated by the frying oil. When the oil reaches temperatures high enough for deep frying, potentially carcinogenic compounds form in the fried food. These compounds include acrylamide (found in carbohydrate-rich foods such as french fries), heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (chemicals formed when meat is cooked at high temperatures), aldehyde (an organic compound found in perfume) and acrolein (a chemical found in herbicides). These toxic compounds are increased when oil is reused and foods are fried for extended periods of time.