(on the 4th) Grill Wisely to Cut Cancer Risk

[donsu]

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2006/2006-06-23-09.asp#anchor7


Summer is here and many people are firing up the grill. But barbecuing could be cooking up chemicals that may increase the risk of cancer. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, these chemicals may be linked to breast, stomach, prostate, and colon cancer.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute nutritionist Stephanie Vangsness, RD, LDN, CNSD, says there are two risk factors to keep in mind. The high heat of grilling reacts with proteins in red meat, poultry, and fish to create heterocyclic amines (HCAs). Studies have linked these chemicals to cancer.

Another form of cancer-causing agents, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are found in the smoke. They form when fat and juices from meat products drip on to the heat source. As the smoke rises it can stick to the surface of the meat.

Vangsness has some advice to minimize cancer risk when grilling meats.

Choose lean cuts of meat, instead of high-fat varieties such as ribs and sausage. Trim all excess fat and remove skin. Lean meats create less dripping and less smoke. Trim excess fat, and remove skin from poultry.

-snip- ( more life saving tips )
-----------------

but there is this: She stresses the best thing you can do is eat a balanced diet, rich in fruits and vegetables that contain protective antioxidants. Vangsness says, "Not having vegetables is probably the biggest risk factor."

[unpossibles]

1. We make grilled veggie-kabobs instead of meat

and they rock. Even my friends who don't like veggies like them.

yum!

[donsu]

2. yes, article says using kabobs is better as they cook faster

drip less

[Warpy]

8. Try grilling asparagus some time

The outside becomes caramelized and the whole business turns incredibly sweet.

It's a completely different veggie when you gill it.

Just don't try using the slimy stuff out of a can. Yuck.

[unpossibles]

13. that sounds awesome!

I will try it soon! thanks for the tip (pun intended, sort of... )

[BOSSHOG]

3. I'm a voracious carnivore

Use the grill at least three times a week. My diet is a disaster but I do eat alot of veggies. Veggies on the grill are a work of art.

[donsu]

4. article gave suggestion how to keep drip smoke off the meat

good luck

[beingthere]

5. ridiculous. Go vegetarian and quit grilling animal parts if you want to

be healthier.

[organik]

6. Or better, Vegan! n/t

[kenny blankenship]

19. Or barbeque vegans

they're kind of stringy and gray, but if you put health over enjoyment that's the tradeoff you'll make.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

28. No thanks.

Do you know how many toxins those people have in their body? They're ridden with E. coli.

I'll pass.

:P

[unpossibles]

7. that was my point too

since it stated several times that the problems arose from animal products.

:D

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Yeah, but then what's the point of living longer.

[Bill McBlueState]

9. here's how I look at it

Be a vegetarian, and live to 90. Eat ribs and sausage, and live to 70. People could have valid reasons for choosing either.

Or get hit by a bus when you're 45 and it doesn't matter anyway.

[mcscajun]

31. Yup. You make your choices, and die accordingly.

We all have choices to make. Some of us don't Want to live Forever. Others do. It all depends on your circumstances and your outlook.

There are no guarantees no matter how you live.

Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

[FlaGranny]

33. Hmmm, not always.

My Daddy's favorite was eating butter by the spoonful. He would eat veggies though if drenched in melted butter. Milk was another of his favorites, especially that part - the cream - that floated on top. My mom used to get mad at him for that because she used to use it for whipped cream. He lived to age 89 and 4 months. My mom, bless her heart, lived to 94 and 6 months. Her favorite was a nice juicy medium steak. They both grew up on bacon and eggs, butter, pies with crusts made of lard, whipped cream, fried foods. I will say, though, that they both enjoyed fruit, berries, and veggies, and as we lived in a farming community, we got lots of fresh ones, and they were home canned. Every dinner ended with some kind of "sweet" usually home made with real sugar. Neither one of them ever got fat. They were healthy looking, with some "meat" on their bones, though. None of us kids were fat either. We kids all started to struggle a bit with our weight in the mid 1960s to 1970, just about the time when prepared foods really seemed to come into their own. That's also when they started taking lard out of the pie crusts.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

34. life without meat is not living

imho

:evilgrin:

[LisaM]

10. I eat food off a grill about three times a year, if that

do I get a pass? Also, I eat way more than my quota of vegetables every day, and have fruit smoothies with no dairy about four times a week. Can I have some drippy, fatty meat on the 4th????

[Akoto]

11. Report: Living now the leading cause of death.

Honestly, humanity has been cooking meat over flames since before cancer was a word. We still survived as a species.

If there's one thing I can tell you, it's that we've been VERY grateful to own a grill. It kept us fed when our power was out repeatedly for weeks during the hurricanes! :)

[donsu]

14. and how long was their life span?

nt

[Bonhomme Richard]

12. I really wish this crap would stop.

Hint: Nobody is going to live forever. Everybody dies.......not everybody lives.

[donsu]

15. empty words

nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. I know. It pisses me off.

First they want me to wear a condom, now they want me to grill safely.

Next thing you know they'll all be forcing us into labor camps.

[porphyrian]

18. Are the carcinogen levels present really so high that this is necessary?

Everyone will get cancer eventually if they live long enough. In fact, we get cancerous cells all the time, but our body destroys them before they grow out of hand. Even if someone were able to live an entirely carcinogen-free life, which is basically impossible in our world today, they could still develop cancer. At what point are we preventing cancer with things like this rather than exploiting science for an interesting 6 o'clock news segment?

[donsu]

20. guess it's your choice to play the cancer game of chance - or not

are you anti science?

[porphyrian]

22. Not at all, but thanks for the condescending implication.

And, yes, it is my choice what I do with my body, as it is yours with your body.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. I believe they are.

I might be misremebering but PAH's in BBQed food can get into the 100 ppb range, which is well over the recommended guidelines.

[porphyrian]

25. What are the recommended guidelines?

And who sets those guidelines(Apparently the amount of arsenic we can drink is determined by which political party is in office.)? Based on what - actual incidents of cancer caused by BBQed food, or simply lab results and extrapolation/speculation? How did humanity evolve this far without evidence of the majority developing cancer from their diet, given that grilled meat isn't exactly a new practice, even considering the difference in lifespan? I'm not calling the studies false, I'm saying that this is probably a non-issue unless you grill out every day. Isn't warning about grilling meat for the 4th because of the risk of cancer about the same as warning about smoking a single cigarette?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. I think it was 0.2 ppb.

Understand it's been some time since I looked into it.

Who did it? The EPA, I believe.

So did they take thousands of human volunteers and subject most of them to measured amounts of BBQed food in a controlled environment for several decades and compare them to a control group who had no BBQed food for the same amount of time?

Probably not.

The numbers more likely come from many different studies, most likely involving rats, some coming from human studies involving cigarette smoking, etc. that were taken together, summed up, and extrapolated.

Cigarettes have warning labels. Most people probably don't know they end up with the same toxic chemicals in their BBQ food.

[porphyrian]

29. So, it's probably just the presence of substances...

...they've decided are carcinogenic, rather than any data on BBQed meat-eating, which they are using here. The problem with that is that it doesn't take into account any number of other factors which may go into eating grilled meat. There may be some substance or process which blocks the absorbtion of the carcinogens, I don't know, and apparently they don't either. I mean, be informed, that's cool, I'm just not going to fear my beer can chicken or steak because the AP had a slow night.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

30. They know the compounds are carcinogenic...

They know the compounds are present in BBQed meat...

They know well the bioavailibilty and pharmacokinetics of the compounds, they've been studying them for years.

Now maybe there's some magically cancer-curing compound in BBQed meat that counteracts the effects of the dioxins and PAHs that scientists haven't found yet, but I wouldn't count on it.

Nobody's saying not to BBQ meat, except for the usual vegans, the articles just saying to grill responsibly.

[Bridget Burke]

35. The recommendation at the end of the article?

Eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruits & vegetables.

Since I don't eat much grilled and/or barbecued meat, I'm not worried. However, I'll skip lots of burgers & weenies in favor of the occasional lovely rib eye. Grilled vegetables are pretty tasty, too.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

36. "Eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables"

Which is what people should be doing anyway to avoid atheriosclerosis and, oh I don't know, bowel obstructions.

[donsu]

23. some of these posts reminds me of the family 'Killing Their Kids' show

you know the TV show Honey, We Are Killing the Kids

saw one last night and the parents, more so the wife, could not or would not change her families eating habits which were horrible. neither would either parent stop smoking tobacco.

it was proven to them that they were taking 10 or more yrs. off their children's lives. they just shrugged and looked stupid. what a pity.

[deaniac21]

24. If grilling meat is wrong,

I don't want to be right

[mcscajun]

32. Yahoo! BBQ!

Gimme dem ribs and pulled pork. :)

Without smoke, ain't no 'Q.

[Gold Metal Flake]

27. "FUCK EVERYONE IN THIS THREAD" -Cheney's shotgun

:P Now, everyone back to arguing as usual.

[Odin2005]

37. BREAKING NEWS: LIFE CAUSES CANCER!

If I had to choose between an exciting life to age 75 or a boring life untill 100, I would take the former. You can take my BBQed ribs from my cold, dead hands.

[Bake]

38. Since I SMOKE (gasp!), I'm guessing the grill is no biggie

Comparatively speaking, as it were. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'm bulletproof. I don't grill all THAT much anyway -- three or four times a week is all.

Bake