Grilling meats at lower temperatures and with spices -- think turmeric, rosemary and fingerroot -- can go a long way toward reducing the formation of carcinogenic compounds like heterocylic amines (HCAs) as well as your risk of cancer.
Because I'm an unrepentant meat-eater, you'd assume I'd be relieved about a recent study from a Kansas State University research team that demonstrated another way to avoid HCAs by choosing hot dogs, pepperoni and other deli delights over bacon and rotisserie chicken. Makes great sense, considering bacon and rotisserie chicken require high levels of heat to cook safely.
Scientists compared ready-to-go meats and store-bought rotisserie chicken to bacon and hot dogs cooked in a microwave and a pepperoni pizza cooked either in an oven or microwave for five different kinds of HCAs that add to one's cancer risks. Pepperoni contained the least amount of HCAs (0.05 nanograms per gram) while rotisserie chicken meat had the most (1.9), followed by bacon (1.1). Even worse, HCA levels in baked chicken skin were more than eight times higher at 16.3 than the chicken meat itself.
No question, part of the take-home message in today's blog is to avoid eating chicken skin, no matter how tasty it is, and save the bacon for special occasions. But, I'd also be remiss if I didn’t remind you that most hot dogs and deli meats also contain sodium nitrite, a preservative that comes with its own problematic health baggage too.
Sources:
Meat Science, Vol. 88, No. 2, p. 227-233, June 2011
EurekAlert March 22, 2011
MSNBC.com March 23, 2011
FoodNavigator.com March 24, 2011