Summer Means Grilling Outdoors … and Cancer?

Summer is all about cookouts. After all, who wants to be stuck in the kitchen when the weather is perfect? But before you pull out your barbecue tongs, did you know that grilling meat at high temperatures could increase your risk for colorectal, stomach, lung, pancreas, breast, and prostate cancers?

According to Harvard researchers, when meat is cooked at high temperatures— either by grilling, frying or broiling— the amino acids react with creatine stored in the meat to form heterocyclic amines (HCAs), known carcinogens. HCAs do not exist in uncooked meats. They are only produced when meat is exposed to high and prolong heat. In other words, if you like your meat well done, HCAs formation is higher than in meat cooked at lower temperatures for less time.

Additionally, the same reason grilled meat is so tasty—its smoky-rich flavor— also produces polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These cancer-causing chemicals, including benzopyrene, are in the smoke from burning charcoals or drips of fat that cause flare-ups. Incidentally, benzopyrene is one chemical found in cigarette smoke.

Charred foods also contain PAHs, like when you burn your toast or send your roasted marshmallow into a burst of flames. So, if you can taste smoke, expect those chemicals are in your food. Cancer aside, research has also shown that high prenatal exposure to PAHs is associated with low IQ.

But there is good news here, so don’t throw out your grill just yet. While PAHs and HCAs definitively cause cancer in humans, they are a part of everyday life and the human body has a way to take care of them if consumed in low quantity, said Colleen Doyle, nutrition and physical activity director for the American Cancer Society. Doyle also suggests there are several things you can do when grilling to reduce your risk.

• The most obvious thing here is to turn down the heat. Try using smaller cuts of meat. They cook more quickly at lower temperatures; A smart choice all around.
• Choose leaner cuts of meats whenever possible. This reduces the amount of dripping grease and in turn lessens the amount of smoke.
• Precook meat in the microwave. It cuts down on grill time without sacrificing flavor. Just two minutes in the microwave cuts down on HCAs by 90 percent, according to some research.
• Counter to the grillmaster’s advice, flip the meat frequently. This prevents the meat from absorbing or losing too much heat on either side.
• Don’t cook your food too close to the heat source. Move your grilling surface to its highest position or create a barrier between the heath source and food with aluminum foil. Brush away any charred areas.
• Add plenty of fruits, vegetables, and grains to the meal says Doyle. “Think of the meat as a dish rather than the main course.”
• Serve a starchy food. Flinders University research shows serving “resistance starch” like that found in potato salad, pasta, rice, green bananas and beans with the barbecued meats significant cut colon cancer risk by lowering the fermentation of the meat during the digesting process.
• Marinate that meat. Kansas State University research shows that marinate mixtures that contain spices from the antioxidant-rich mint family decrease the amount of HCAs —up to 88 percent—that formed in the grilled meats. One word of caution: Always discard any leftover marinade immediately.

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Lynette Summerill is an award-winning writer who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.In addition to writing about cancer-related issues, she writes a blog, Nonsmoking Nation, which follows global tobacco news and events.