Red meat or meat-cooking methods such as frying and doneness level have been associated with an increased risk of colorectal and other cancers. It is unclear whether it is red meat intake or the way it is cooked that is involved in the etiology of colorectal cancer. To address this issue, we developed an extensive food frequency questionnaire module that collects information on meat-cooking techniques as well as the level of doneness for individual meat items and used it in a study of colorectal adenomas, known precursors of colorectal cancer. A case-control study of colorectal adenomas was conducted at the National Naval Medical Center (Bethesda, MD) between April 1994 and September 1996. All cases (n = 146) were diagnosed with colorectal adenomas at sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy and histologically confirmed. Controls (n = 228) were screened with sigmoidoscopy and found not to have colorectal …