Recent epidemiological studies have suggested that red and processed meat may increase the risk of
lung cancer. Possible underlying mechanisms include
mutagens produced during high-temperature cooking or preservation, or formed endogenously from
heme iron in meat. We used data from 99,579 participants of both screened and nonscreened arms of the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and
Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial, aged 55-74 years, to investigate whether meat type, cooking method, doneness level, intake of specific meat
mutagens 2-amino-3,8-dimethylimidazo[4,5-f]
quinoxaline (MeIQx), 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo[4,5-f]
quinoxaline] (DiMeIQx), 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-
b]pyridine (
PhIP) and
benzo(a)pyrene (B(a)P)] and
heme iron are associated with
lung cancer. Participants' diet was assessed prospectively using a 124-item food frequency questionnaire and an additional meat-cooking module. Dietary data were used in conjunction with a database to estimate intake of MeIQx, DiMeIQx,
PhIP, B(a)P and
heme iron. After up to 8 years of follow-up, 782 incident
lung cancer cases were ascertained.
Lung cancer risk was not associated with the consumption of either red (men: HR(Q₅ vs. Q₁) = 1.11, 95% CI = 0.79-1.56, P(trend) = 0.42; women: HR(Q₅ vs. Q₁) = 1.30, 95% CI = 0.87-1.95, P(trend) = 0.65) or processed meat (men: HR(Q₅ vs. Q₁1) = 1.12, 95% CI = 0.83-1.53, P(trend) = 0.22; women: HR(Q₅ vs. Q₁) = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.68-1.41, P(trend) = 0.32) in multivariable models. High-temperature cooking methods, level of meat doneness, meat
mutagens and
heme iron had no effect on
lung cancer risk. In this population, we found no association between meat type, cooking method, doneness level or intake of specific meat
mutagens or
heme iron and
lung cancer risk.