Background: Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are found in high quantity in high-fat foods and meat cooked at high temperature. AGEs have been shown to contribute to chronic inflammation and oxidative stress in humans.
Aim: To investigate the associations between consumption of meat, fat and AGEs, and the risk of Barrett's oesophagus (BO).
Methods: We conducted a case-control study using data from the patients who were scheduled for elective esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) and from a random sample of patients who were identified at primary care clinics. Daily consumption of meat, fat and Nε-(carboxymethyl) lysine (CML), a major type of AGEs, was derived from the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Multivariate logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) for BO.
Results: A total of 151 cases with BO and 777 controls without BO completed the FFQ. The multivariate OR (95% CI) for BO was 1.91 (1.07-3.38) for total meat, 1.80 (1.02-3.16) for saturated fat and 1.63 (0.96-2.76) for CML-AGE, when the highest tertile of intake was compared with the lowest. The association for total meat was attenuated to 1.61 (0.82-3.16), and that for saturated fat to 1.54 (0.81-2.94) after adjusting for CML-AGE.
Conclusions: Higher consumption of total meat, saturated fat or possibly CML-AGE was associated with an increased risk of Barrett's oesophagus. CML-AGE may partly explain the association between total meat and saturated fat consumption and the risk of Barrett's oesophagus.
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.