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today's question. Is it true that grilling meat can cause cancer? If you've read the how stuff Works article on how cancer works, then you know that there are many different things that can cause cancer. You would think that cooking meat over an open flame would not be one of those things. However, unfortunately, it does appear that grilling, broiling, or frying meat produces substances that do have a connection to cancer. Heat has a general party of allowing chemicals
to change from one form to another. You see this happen whenever you cook an egg. The heat changes the proteins in the egg and solidifies them. In the case of meat, high temperatures convert things like fat in the meat into substances called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are groups of benzene rings, and like benzine itself, these rings can be modified in the body to produce new
chemicals that do damage DNA. How much of a risk does well done meat represent It seems like it is a noticeable difference. For example, women who eat a lot of well done meat seem to have a much higher rate of breast cancer. If you want to avoid these risks completely, boiling meat is a good way to prepare it. Do you have any ideas or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please send me an email at podcast at
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