Meat and Meat-Mutagen Intake and Pancreatic Cancer Risk in the NIH-AARP Cohort

Meat intake, particularly red meat, has been positively associated with pancreatic cancer in some epidemiologic studies. Detailed meat-cooking methods and related mutagens formed in meat cooked at high temperatures have not been evaluated prospectively as risk factors for this malignancy. We investigated the association between meat, meat-cooking methods, meat-mutagen intake, and exocrine pancreatic cancer in the NIH-American Association of Retired Persons (NIH-AARP) Diet and Health Study cohort of 537,302 individuals, aged 50 to 71 years, with complete baseline dietary data (1995-1996) ascertained from a food frequency questionnaire. A meat-cooking module was completed by 332,913 individuals 6 months after baseline. During 5 years of follow-up, 836 incident pancreatic cancer cases (555 men, 281 women) were identified. Four hundred and fifty-nine cases had complete meat module data. We used Cox proportional hazard models to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Total, red, and high-temperature cooked meat intake was positively associated with pancreatic cancer among men (fifth versus first quintile: HR, 1.41, 95% CI, 1.08-1.83, P trend = 0.001; HR, 1.42, 95% CI, 1.05-1.91, P trend = 0.01; and HR, 1.52, 95% CI, 1.12-2.06, P trend = 0.005, respectively), but not women. Men showed significant 50% increased risks for the highest tertile of grilled/barbecued and broiled meat and significant doubling of risk for the highest quintile of overall meat-mutagenic activity (P trends < 0.01). The fifth quintile of the heterocyclic amine, 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo4,5-fquinoxaline intake showed a significant 29% (P trend = 0.006) increased risk in men and women combined. These findings support the hypothesis that meat intake, particularly meat cooked at high temperatures and associated mutagens, may play a role in pancreatic cancer development.