Chips and fried food can cause prostate cancer

Men who eat fried foods more than once a week may increase their risk of prostate cancer by a third, a new research has suggested.

According to the research, junk food staples like chips, fried chicken, battered fish and doughnuts could play an important role in the formation of aggressive and life-threatening forms of the disease, the Daily Mail reported.

The research has found that snacking on deep fried foods at least once a week seemed to increase cancer risk by 30 - 37% compared to men who ate them less than once a month.

The risks increase with age, with men over 50 likelier to develop a tumour, and there is a strong genetic element to it.

Experts at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in Seattle analysed data from two studies involving a total of 1,549 men diagnosed with prostate cancer and another 1,492 men of similar age and profile who had good health.

All the participants - aged from 35 to 74 - completed detailed questionnaires on their eating habits.

They then made allowances for other factors that could influence men’s chances of getting prostate cancer, like weight, age, whether they had a family history of the disease and their racial background.

They were then able to calculate the extent to which eating chips, chicken or doughnuts at least once a week affected risk of developing cancer.

Results have been published in the journal The Prostate.