Grilling Meats Carries Cancer Risk

If you like your steak or burgers blackened on the grill, you may be getting more than flavor in that next bite.

Dr. Maryann Donovan is scientific director at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute’s Center for Environmental Oncology.

She said studies involving human data show that "grilling meats or cooking muscle meats at very high temperatures is associated with an increase in several kinds of cancers.”

Those cancers include breast, pancreas and colorectal cancer.

Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are formed when you cook muscle meats such as beef, pork, fowl, and fish over high temperatures.

According to Donovan, HCAs form when amino acids, which are found in meat, bind with creatin.

Researchers have identified 17 different HCAs resulting from the cooking of muscle meats that may pose human cancer risk.

Donovan said, “Studies that have been done show that people who eat barbecue or high-heat-cooked meat four times a week have double the cancer risk compared to people who don't.”

It doesn't matter if the grill is charcoal or gas; it's the heat that counts.

The same danger exists if you broil or fry meat.

There are some things you can do to cut down on the grilling danger.

Turn the heat down or raise the cooking surface up away from the flames.

Cook smaller cuts of meat.

Don’t overcook meat. Use a thermometer to make sure meat is cooked to safe temperature to avoid E. coli and other bacteria.

Microwave the meat for two minutes before putting it on the grill. This can cut the effects of HCAs about 90 percent.

Trim fat from the meat to prevent flare-ups. The smoke from grill flare-ups is also a danger.

Donovan said, “The smoke created when the fat hits the flame also has other chemicals that are carcinogenic.”

Poaching and baking meats and fish do not release these harmful chemicals.

Also, grilling vegetables is also safe. The chemicals created by grilling are present only in muscle meats.

National Cancer Institute