You may think twice before taking a bite out of that flame-broiled steak. New studies are pointing to a link between well-done meat and breast cancer risk.

'...We found a twofold risk of breast cancer in women who consumed the most-well-done meat compared with those who ate less-cooked meat' "> 'We found that women who ate flame-broiled meat more than twice a month had an increased risk of developing breast cancer' "> 'PhIP damages DNA in the cell like other carcinogenic compounds' ">

In the first study, Dr. Rashmi Sinha, a researcher with the Iowa Women's Health Study, says they found no association with total meat consumption or red meat consumption — but they did find a two-fold risk of breast cancer in women who consumed the most-well-done meat compared with those who ate less-cooked meat.

The studies were presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Cooking meat at high temperatures, by frying, broiling and barbecuing, produces heterocyclic amines as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These compounds — found on charred food — have been shown to promote cancer in animals. Scientists say they are also likely to be carcinogenic for humans.

The longer the meat is cooked and the higher the temperature, more of these compounds are produced.

The Iowa Women's study asked questions regarding diet: how much meat was consumed, how the meat was cooked, and how well it was cooked. Researchers then estimated the amount of three types of heterocyclic amines in the diets. Only PhIP, the principle heterocyclic tied to breast cancer in animals, showed a link to breast cancer risk in the study population.

Sinha says the findings are preliminary — but suggested that people may want to reduce the amount of PhIP in their meat by cooking it at lower temperatures. Various methods suggested included stewing, braising, baking, cooking it with liquid, or precooking it in the oven or microwave before putting it on the grill.

A team of German researchers, in another study, found PhIP caused several kinds of DNA damage. These scientists theorize the PhIP might bind to estrogen receptors and act as a carcinogen once those receptors reached the breast. They say further studies are needed.

In yet another separate study, researchers at Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore found that women with the highest levels of a certain kind of enzyme linked to heterocyclic amines were most vulnerable to breast cancer.

Researchers say they found women who ate flame-broiled meat more than twice a month had an increased risk of developing breast cancer.

These studies seem to contradict one carried out at the University of California Irvine College of Medicine. That study appeared in the April issue of Carcinogenesis. It found no increased risk of breast cancer for women who ate well-done red meat such as pork or beef.