Science / Medicine : Fats May Inhibit Cancer

Fats found in grilled hamburger and processed cheese may act as anti-cancer agents in mice, a researcher said. But he cautioned that the finding is not a signal to “chow down” on cheeseburgers.

The findings revealed last week concur with some earlier reports but fly in the face of other recent studies at the UC Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, where scientists experimenting with rats found that substances produced by cooking hamburger cause cancer.

Michael Pariza, a food microbiologist at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and his colleagues found that a fatty acid known as conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, in grilled hamburger and processed cheeses tended to inhibit cancer development in mice. The researchers have not performed similar studies in humans.

Pariza, whose study is partially funded by the dairy industry, found a particularly high concentration of CLA in Cheez Whiz, a processed cheese spread, as well as in milk and Parmesan, Romano, blue and cream cheeses.

“I would be very cautious about extrapolating this kind of data from one rodent study to humans,” said Dr. Myron Winnick, a noted nutritionist at the New York Academy of Medicine.