Do you like your steak well done or with a little pink in the middle? According to a recent study from the Journal of Toxicology, people who eat their beef medium-well or well-done had more than three times the risk of stomach cancer than those who ate their beef rare or medium-rare. They also found that people who ate beef four or more times a week had twice the risk of developing stomach cancer. If you are a member of the “I only eat chicken and fish” club you are not totally off the hook. The link to cancer goes beyond red meat and includes the way you cook your dinner. If you use high temperature cooking methods (Above 150 Celsius) such as the barbeque you are at greater risk for producing carcinogens. Furthermore, if you have a tendency to burn your meat, regardless of the type (fish, pork, chicken or red meat) you will create even more carcinogens. Don’t worry, the point of this article is not to scare you away from barbequing. Summertime barbequing can be fun and healthy for everyone. My aim is to provide you with a few tips to reduce your exposure to carcinogens and make your barbeque experience that much more enjoyable. The first tip is to trim away any charred portions of your meat. The burnt portions don’t taste that great anyways so don’t worry about the waste. Keep flipping your meat often to prevent burning. One study showed that burgers flipped every 6-7 minutes had one tenth the carcinogens of a burger flipped once during cooking. Another tip to prevent carcinogen formation is to use a marinade. The marinade adds moisture to the meat and helps prevent burning. One exception to this rule are sweet marinades since the sugars caramelize quickly and tend to burn faster. Therefore, those sweet teriyaki marinades should be cooked at a lower temperature for longer to prevent burning.

Few will attest to purposely burning their meat, however if you occasionally err on the side of “overdone” to ensure the meat is cooked through, there may be a better solution. A meat thermometer removes all of the guess work and allows you to cook to a safe temperature without overcooking. Health Canada recommends buying a digital thermometer and cooking your burgers to 71 degrees Celsius and poultry to 75 degrees Celsius. They recently held a media campaign to help Canadians remember “Your Burger is Done at 71”.

Another tip to reduce your exposure to carcinogens is to buy leaner and lower fat meats. When fat drips down into the hot flames the fat combusts and creates mildly carcinogenic fumes. Next time you open your barbeque keep your face well to the side (also a good tip to preserve your eyebrows). This is simply another reason to choose leaner meats beyond the benefit for your heart. Become adept at reading your food labels before purchasing burgers and sausages. Burgers will range from lean (12 grams of fat) to obscene (55 grams of fat per burger). The average recommended fat intake for adults is between 45-75 grams of fat per day. One burger can wipe out that total for the day if you aren’t careful.

One last way you can protect yourself from carcinogens is to eat your veggies! Studies have been done looking at the effects of eating anti-oxidant containing foods such as broccoli and green tea. When consumed as part of a meal with barbequed meat, blood levels showed a decreased level carcinogenic activity. Well I guess mom was right all along…don’t eat the burnt meat and eat your broccoli!

Related links:
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/food-aliment/mh-dm/mhe-dme/groundbeef_boeufhache/e_tips_bbq_hamburger.html
http://www.tbdhu.com/inspection/BBQtips.htm