Question

I have heard that grilling or broiling meat can cause it to become cancerous. Is this true, and if so how does it work?

Answer

If you have read the HSW article entitled 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, given that people have been cooking meat this way going all the way back to the caveman days. Unfortunately, it does appear that grilling, broiling or frying meat produces substances that have a connection to cancer.

Heat has a general property 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 benzene itself, these rings can be modified in the body to produce chemicals that damage DNA. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Under conditions of biological oxidation by the cytochrome P-450 enzyme system in the liver, benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons undergo epoxidation of their ring. The epoxides that form react with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and it is believed that this process is responsible for the carcinogenic properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons."

How much of a risk does well-done meat represent? According to this article, "For the age groups that we're studying, the rate at which women who eat well-done meat are developing breast cancer is nearly five times greater than the rate among women who are not cooking their meat well-done." So there is a noticeable difference.

If you want to avoid these risks, boiling meat is a good way to prepare it...

Here are several interesting links:

• How Cancer Works
• Health experts advise caution when grilling meats
• Meat and Breast Cancer
• Grilling - Do it right to avoid risk
• Grilling and cancer risk

• Click Here to see the huge HSW Question Archive!
• Click Here to see the How Stuff Works home page!

How Stuff Works Power Panel

Table of Contents A complete list of all HSW articles About Marshall Brain Information about the creator of HSW Search Search for any word or concept in HSW Citing HSW Information about citing HSW in articles and papers Question of the Day Ask questions or browse hundreds in the archive Books A variety of books for people interested in how stuff works HSW Newsletter Sign up to receive the monthly HSW newsletter Contacting HSW Contact HSW directly with email What's New Review newsletters to chart HSW's development Awards Check out HSW's awards and reviews! Disclaimer The disclaimer required by the lawyer Author Information Learn how you can write for HSW HSW Fan Buttons Link to HSW with these snazzy fan buttons! Suggestions Leave a suggestion in the suggestion box

How Stuff Works (http://www.howstuffworks.com) is a production of Howstuffworks.com, Inc. P.O. Box 40492 - Raleigh, NC 27629 See http://www.howstuffworks.com/contact.htm for contact information

© 1999 Howstuffworks.com, Inc. All rights reserved.