Why is grilled meat bad for you

Lean beef, lamb, and other red meats are okay on occasion, but try to skip processed meats altogether. The more food can avoid direct contact with flames, the better, so let initial flames settle before cooking or use a grill pan. PAHs are created when fat and juice drip from the food being cooked to create smoke which then sticks to the food. Reduce PAH production by choosing leaner proteins and trimming excess fat before cooking.

Cooking protein foods until well-done increases time for HCAs to form, but also increases browning on the outside and risk of charring, both of which increase PAH production. Let flames die down before adding meat to the grill, and consider one of the quicker cooking options given above. If food becomes charred, cut off and discard that portion. Instead, make a fire the old-fashioned way with coal and a little newspaper.

A charcoal chimney to sit in your grill makes this process a snap and is a minimal investment. Home Is Grilling Healthy? Is Grilling Healthy? Pin FB More.

Eating healthy should still be delicious. It's as if study after study found that cigarettes weren't actually bad for you, as long as they were menthols! In , researchers at the University of Hawaii found that marinating meat in either an Indian garlic-turmeric marinade or a Hawaiian teriyaki marinade the lead researcher was of Indian descent, and the study was conducted in Hawaii , even for just an hour before cooking, significantly reduced how many bad chemicals were created. In that instance, the researchers ascribed the marinade's magic powers to the moisture it added, which prevented charring and made the surface of the meat less sticky for PAH-filled smoke.

But a study in found that adding rosemary to your meat before grilling could cut down the HCA in the end product by, in some cases, over 90 percent!

This time, researchers chalked the effect up to antioxidants in the rosemary, and similar studies have found that garlic, onion , tart cherries, and honey also block the nasty chemicals from forming. Happy day! Your grandpa might not be well-advised to keep eating his char-blackened strip steaks, but everyone can dig into dishes like Grilled Garlic-Rosemary Lamb , Grilled Spareribs with Cherry Cola Glaze , and our Grilled Rosemary Chicken.

But while there are plenty of ways to avoid the potentially harmful health effects of grilling, one thing is pretty clear and not particularly surprising. Charcoal grills are worse for the environment than propane grills. A study in found that the carbon footprint for a charcoal grill was three times larger than that of a gas grill , over the course of the grills' lifetimes.

A lot of this comes from the way that charcoal's made--it's inherently a smoky, wasteful process, compared to extracting gas from the ground, at least as far as CO2 goes--but there's also the smoke factor from the grill itself. And if you really want to remove any enviroguilt from your next cookout, you could always go for a SolSource --cooking with sunlight is guaranteed to emit no CO2 at all.

Despite these potential risks, no one is suggesting you should ditch your barbecue. Instead, next time you hit the grill, consider these 6 tips for healthier meals:.

When fat hits an open flame, it produces PAHs. So, instead of grilling fatty burgers or brats, opt for grass-fed steak, chicken, or fish. When you cook muscle at high temperatures—whether beef, pork, fish, or poultry—it mutates and creates HCAs. But fruits and vegetables don't have protein muscle or fat, both of which become problematic when exposed to high temps. So, in terms of potential health risks, grilling produce is a safer way to enjoy your barbecue.

Read: Grilling? If you're cooking meat and veggies together, fat dripping from the meat can fall into the flames and coat your produce with cancer-causing chemicals. Foil-wrapping fruits and veggies can protect them from high heat and the harmful effects of grilled meats.

You can also wrap meat in foil to prevent fat from dripping into the hot coals. Sauces and marinades are often loaded with sugar. That can be especially problematic for people who are trying to follow a low-carb diet, says Dr. Acidic rubs and marinades, on the other hand, may help break down some of the muscle in the meat and reduce the number of HCAs on your plate. If you're looking for an alternative to marinades, rub heart-healthy olive oil over the food and season it with pepper, spices, and herbs.