Nov 09, 2015 11:35 PM EST By Rashmi Kalia, UniversityHerald Reporter

A new study has linked consumption of metals cooked at high temperatures to kidney cancer risk, suggesting that cooking process may be a factor, Time reports.

The study was published in the journal Cancer.

The National Institutes of Health, among other grantees, funded the research, Washington Post reports.

In the study, researchers looked at the diets and genetic information of 659 patients of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. All the patients were recently diagnosed with kidney cancer. Their diets and genetic information was compared to 699 healthy men and women.

The World Health Organization had recently released a report that declared that processed meat was carcinogenic.

The researchers estimated the meat consumption of the participants and their exposure to mutagens in meat that are created when meat is cooked at high temperatures over an open flame.

Cooking meat over an open flame, like grilled or pan fried, is known to create carcinogens.

"We found elevated RCC risk associated with both meat intake and meat-cooking mutagens, suggesting independent effect of meat-cooking mutagens on RCC risk," study author Dr. Xifeng Wu, a professor of epidemiology at MD Anderson in a news release.

The researchers found that the patients with kidney cancer ate more meat compared to the people in the study without cancer. The study also reported a higher risk of kidney cancer associated with the consumption of two mutagens.

In addition, the researchers also said that genetics might also play a role, as people with specific genetic mutation were at higher risk associated with meat consumption.

The researchers only found a link between meat consumption and kidney cancer risk. They did not find that meat consumption causes cancer.

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