Many people might be missing one key health fact: grilling meat can increase your risk of cancer.
Grilling meat is among the best, tastiest, and most nutritious ways to eat it. Grilled hot dogs, burgers, steaks, and even vegetarian paneers, potatoes, and pineapples are too delicious to miss out on. However, according to experts, many people might be missing one key health fact: grilling meat can increase your risk of cancer.
According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, most people are unaware that grilling meat over high heat or an open flame produces cancer-causing carcinogens. Studies also say open flame exposes you to heterocyclic aromatic amines, or HCAs, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which cause changes in your DNA, causing inflammation that makes you prone to cancer.
Experts say HCAs develop in meat when amino acids and creatine react to high heat, and they only increase the longer meat is exposed to the heat. Similarly, PAHs are produced as fat burns in the flame and can attach to meat cooking over an open fire. When grilling, you also get exposed to PAHs in smoke. Studies say processed and frozen meats like hot dogs, sausages, and salamis are classified as group 1 carcinogens, which means there is strong evidence to link them to cancer, especially colon cancer.
How to reduce the risk of cancer with grilling?
While this does not mean that you totally give up on grilled foods, understand a few ways you can avoid the risks.
Always marinate meat
Make sure to at least marinate your meat for 30 minutes to an hour to reduce the formation of HCAs, which in turn can help lower cancer risk. You can add spices, oil, yogurt, sauces, and lemon juice to create delicious marinades.
Shorten grill time
Reduce the time that meat is exposed to extreme heat and flames. You can partially cook the meat with another heat source like an oven, microwave, pan, or air fryer before you put it on the grill.
Never binge eat barbecue
While it is okay to enjoy a barbecue meal once in a while, over the weekend with friends, having too much of it leads to issues in your body, as it is not easy to be metabolised. Doctors advise limiting how much and how often you eat grilled and smoked meat.
Always choose leaner meats.
According to experts, leaner meats like chicken and fish, which are cooked at lower or sustained temperatures, are theoretically healthier than red meats that need higher temperatures to cook properly. Also, leaner cuts reduce fat drips and flame flare-ups, which contribute to the formation of carcinogens.
Flip often
It is important to turn meat more frequently to help it cook evenly while also limiting charring.
