Reduce Cancer Forming Compounds - Marinating Meat before Grilling Holds the Key

Above and beyond spicing up the meat, marinating it prior to grilling, helps to break up the latent cancerdefine causing compounds, which are formed when the meat is cooked.

Numerous studies done in the past have revealed that grilling meats without marinating makes it carcinogenic in nature. Further, cancerdefine causing benzopyrene, the spiteful upsurge of fat drips onto the sizzling grill, evaporates back up to the meat and sticks to it.

Shocking but true, eating a pound of directly grilled meat would give you as much carcinogenic benzopyrene as smoking 300 cigarettes. Thankfully, all this research has been performed on rabbits, cats and mice.

Some tests carried out in Hong Kong have also revealed that levels of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are much higher in meat grilled without marinating it.

Just go down memory lane. Imagine the amount of carcinogens our ancestors have been eating in grilled meat since days of yore. Yes, cave man didn’t quite know what marinating meat was!

Meat that is marinated before grilling has a reduction of up to 70% in the quantity of heterocyclic amines (HCA), a nasty carcinogenic compound. This was stated by a team from Kansas State University.

This team conducted it tests on three different spicy marinades namely Caribbean, southwest and herb on round beefsteaks.The subject meat was marinated for about 60 minutes and thereafter grilled at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

The results were real eye openers. Streaks marinated in the Caribbean concoction had a decrease in the HCA content by 88 percent, followed by the herb blend by 72 percent and lastly the southwest mélange by 57 percent.

Dr. J.S. Smith, principal researcher at Kansas State University said, “Commercial marinades offer spices and herbs which have antioxidantsdefine that help decrease the HCAs formed during grilling.”

He further added to his statement by saying that this study‘s result had a direct bearing on the consumers, as in today’s times every individual desires a healthy life style.

Other studies of Dr. J.S. Smith have also elaborated the advantages of many of the herbs and spices used in cooking, in particular Rosemary. This herb binds to the carcinogens, allowing them to pass through the system untouched.

Other antioxidant rich herbs include basil, mint, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano and thyme. The presence of phenolic compounds in these herbs, blocks the HCAs before they can form during grilling.

Off late alcoholic beer has also been recognised as a healthy marinade. Besides tenderizing the meat, it also makes way for healthy cancer free grilling.

All these studies are in print in the Journal of Food Science.