Make mine medium-rare, please

The next time a waiter asks how you want your meat cooked, you may want to say "rare" or "medium-rare." Researchers have found a possible link between well-done meat and increased risk of colon cancer, which is the second most common cancer in the United States and usually forms from precancerous growths called polyps.

A study in the International Journal of Cancer examined cotonoscopy results of 1,028 people (ages 40 to 75) who had polyps and 1,577 with none. Those who ate the most total meat and red meat were 50-60 percent more likely to have hyperplastic polyps, which are often benign but can develop into cancer. And eating well-done meat increased the risk of developing adenomatous, or precancerous, polyps by 40-60 percent.

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