Cooking meat raises the potential of the forming of cancer causing agents called heterocyclic amines (HCAs). When handled correctly, meat cooked at high temperatures will produce no HCAs while uncharred meat cooked longer at a low temperature may contain HCAs.
According to the National Cancer Institute, HCAs are formed from the cooking of muscle meats such as beef, pork, fowl, and fish. HCAs form when amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) and creatine (a chemical found in muscles) react at high cooking temperatures. Researchers have identified 17 different HCAs resulting from the cooking of muscle meats. HCA increases one’s risk of developing colorectal, pancreatic and breast cancers.
Unfortunately, the only way to tell how much HCAs are present is by sending the food to a lab for testing.
Food scientists from the Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, found that by adding fruit to the meat, HCA formation was suppresed. They tested with tart cherries and found that by adding ground cherries for 11.5 percent of the ground meat, the formation of PhIP, the principal heterocyclic amine that forms when meat cooks, was reduced. The cherry burger had about 10 percent of the amount of PhIP in a pure grilled hamburger.
The antioxidants found in cherries also inhibited cholesterol oxidation from cooked meat that has been stored in the refrigerator for 4 days.
It was pointed out that tree fruits contain similar pigmented antioxidants that could produce favorable results like the cherries, such as by grinding plums or a bunch of grapes and then mixing them into ground meat.
The researchers also found out that adding a 40 milligram vitamin E capsule to a pound of ground beef is almost as effective as the cherries.
At the University of Hawaii’s Cancer Research Center in Honolulu, researchers found that marinating steak overnight with barbecue sauce increased HCAs while soaking in a standard teriyaki sauce or a turmeric-garlic marinade cut the HCA formation during grilling. Depending on the cooking time, those reductions ranged from 40 to 65 percent.
Source: Science News April 24, 1999 155:264-266; C Britt et al “Influence of Cherry Tissue on Lipid Oxidation and Heterocyclic Aromatic Amine Formation in Ground Beef Patties” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (1998) 46(December):4891-4897; New York Times, 29 June 1999
Chapter: Food :: 6 August 2007
