Firing up the BBQ this summer? Tips to minimize cancer risk from grilling

globalnews.ca:

barbeque season kicks off, experts advice Canadians to take precautions when grilling red meats and hot dogs. While those tempting char marks add flavour, they also carry potential health risks.Fortunately, you can enjoy your favourite grilled foods while minimizing the danger.Cooking meat at high temperatures can create potentially harmful chemicals.

These include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs). While a direct link to human cancer hasn’t been established, laboratory experiments show they can alter DNA in ways that might increase cancer risk, according to the United States National Cancer Institute (NIH).“There are two things to be aware of when it comes to barbecuing.

The first is that red and processed meat, like beef, hot dogs or sausages, are types of red processed meat that might increase your colorectal cancer risk any way that you cook them,” warned Elizabeth Holmes, director of health policy with the Canadian Cancer Society.“And then research shows that cooking those meats plus poultry and fish at high temperatures, including barbecuing, may increase your risk of cancer. And that’s essential those cancer-causing substances are formed when the meat is cooked at that high heat.”However, there are barbecue habits that can reduce your risk of exposure to cancer-causing chemicals, including marinating, choosing leaner cuts of meat and grilling on low heat.The key, Holmes cautioned, is to avoid charring the meat.