Is it true that grilling causes cancer?

Question

I've recently read an article on yahoo! I love the taste of grilled food! I think everything causes cancer these days!

Answer 1

Research has shown that high-heat grilling can convert proteins in red meat, pork, poultry and fish into heterocyclic amines, chemicals that have been linked to a number of cancers. Also, the smoke generated when fat and juices drip on the hot coals or rocks can contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, another potential cancer causing chemical. As the smoke rises up past the food it can deposit PAHs on the surface of the meat.
The aticle goes on to present a number of tips on helping avoid the suspected risks. Of course, most of them involve distancing your grilling from anything remotely resembling grilling such as wrapping up your food in foil, avoiding smoke exposure, and removing all of the fat from meat before cooking.

Answer 2

No. They say alot of things.Some may be so but I worked for the cancer society and it's a drastic change in chemistry in our body or stress, smoking more likely than food. But in every disease, a healthy diet
should be followed, fruits and vegetables, not alot of fatty foods, chicken is good and fish. Im going on and on. So don't worry about grilling. bettyk

Answer 3

Is Barbecue Good For You?
While the surgeon general has yet to label briquets with a health warning, it is true that barbecue may be hazardous to your health. A National Cancer Institue study linked lab animal cancers with meat cooked at the high temperatures common on the back yard grill. At greater-than-boiling heat chemicals called heterocyclic aromatic amines form.

Dubbed HAAS by researchers, these compounds are mutagens, shown to damage the DNA in laboratory-test bacteria, and the mutations may lead to cancer later in life. Richard Adamson of the National Cancer Institute places the risk from HAAS somewhere between the well-documented damage caused by alcohol and the possible danger of drinking chlorinated tap water. In other words, the risk is a calculated one, the same chance we take every day by driving (far more dangerous) or eating sushi (slightly more dangerous).

Other potential carcinogens are formed by dripping fat. The tantalizing aroma wafting from the grill carries poynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. And the smoke itself may contribute to lung damage.

There are a couple of strategies to reduce the risks. Drink dark beer. Japanese researchers, in an article published in the January 1999 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (pretty standard reading for bbq lovers), showed that the 24 beers they tested showed "potent inhibitory effect" against mutagens found in several types of HAAS. Dark beer worked best.

Use cooler burning fuels-briquets or hardwood charcoal instead of mesquite. Bank the fire onto the sides of the barbecue and place a drip pan under the cooking meat to keep the fat out of the fire. Don't allow meat to become heavily charred, since the carcinogens concenetrate in the blackened portions. Or grill only vegetables.

In the end, every lover of barbecue must weigh the risks and make their own decision. Keep this in mind, though: You're more likely to be hit by a bus than die from barbecue.

Answer 4

No. Grilling doesn't cause cancer. Several years ago it was reported that CHARCOAL used in grilling was thought to be a carcinogen. Nothing has ever been proven regarding that fact. You would have to consume an enormous amount of charcoal grilled food regularly for it to be a problem.

Answer 5

Grilled food is delicious, and if you offset the meat so it doesn't cook directly over the heat, it's much safer.

Just don't eat burnt grilled meat every single day, and you'll be just fine.

Moderation in all things, including moderation, I say!

Answer 6

It isn't grilling per se, it is the char smoke that is a carcinogen and as it comes up and hits the food on the grill, it attaches ther carcinogen to the food. So, you COULD get cancer from it, but it would take a lot and there is no guarantee you WILL get cancer...

So if your grill isn't really smokey, i.e. a lot of fat/oil dripping, there is far less carcinogen being attached to the foodstuff.

Answer 7

yes grilling such as a barbeque can be very hazordous, the charcol when burnt releases carbon monoxide very dealt to your lungs and inhaling a lot of it will lead to lung cancer possibly another awful sickness. But try not to inhale it, hope this answered your question

Answer 8

Actually, charcoal is very good for you. People like to say everything causes cancer. Just a bunch of idiots trying to act important.

Answer 9

Yes grilling food can created known carcinogens. Like a lot of things in life enjoying things in moderation is best.

HCAs, a family of mutagenic and cancer-causing compounds, are produced during the cooking of many animal products, including chicken, beef, pork, and fish. In January of 2005, the federal government officially added HCAs to its list of known carcinogens.

Answer 10

If you read the right article breathing can cause cancer!