Is Grilling Killing?

As we ready again for celebrating several summer holidays many of us will be participating in one of the all time favorite "rituals" of cooking , the traditional Barbeque and cookout. Most of us have bitten into a nice char-grilled  juicey burger or steak  deliciously oozing with barbecue sauce. As we "savor the flavor" of the spicey sweet "Q"  sauce , the majority will not be thinking of the amount of time we leave the meat on the grill and it's cumulative  affects of the  "blackened" material or the soot and smoke that lingers in the air from the fat burning off the juice. Most of us are laughing and joking and having too  much fun  rather than take a few minutes to turn the meat over timely or slow cook it  by giving it enough time to simmer. One or two of us will forget the drip pan collecting the grease run-off that is seaming with  potential toxins in it.
Most of us have heard that over-cooking or "blackened" food creates toxins that are carcinogens that can cause colon cancer by the release of free oxygen radicals,free radicals, and oxidation- perioxidation occuring from overcooking meats.But recent studies by the National Cancer Institute has found  out that the fat that is  cooked off from grilling  meats creates  a carcinogen called Poly-aromatic Hydrocarbons(PAHs) . They've also discovered that the protein in red meat and white meats such as chicken , fish and sea foods can be morphed by the excessive heat. The changes in the protein causes chemicals called Heterocyclic Amines(HAs) which also can cause cancer.

The NCI has found a relationship with both breast and colon cancer as well as  prostate and stomach cancer among other types of cancers  caused  due to over heating foods. Grilling, barbecuing,  and pan searing are also related to creating these chemicals from  super heated foods.

Grilled foods can be avoided from becoming your  own worst enemy by pre-cooking foods  to cut down on the time you grill it. Use lemon or other types of fruit marinades or olive oil  to cook in with the meat. Use more fruits or vegetables on the "barby" with the meats as a kebob . Have a drip pan to reduce the soot that flies back in your face with harmful PAHs. Cut up the meat into smaller pieces to cut down on the time  of cooking as well as cutting off the excess fat of the meat. Do not let your meat become blackened. Cook on top of tin foil if you don't have a drip pan. Always clean your grill after use and before firing it up again. Alternative methods of  cooking such as poaching, roasting, baking, pan stewing and boiling helps reduce production of HCAs and PAHs. Some studies have shown that CLA(conjugated linoleic Acid)  can inhibit cancer caused by PAHs. The exact amount of CLA is still to be determined exactly.

Don't forget that heavily smoked foods, overly salted foods particularly pickeled with Nitrates which have been associated with stomach cancer. Pickled foods are particularly fond of in in the Asian countries like Japan.

But, always remember it is the time limit of cooking, the temperature of cooking, the method you utilize to cook at as well as the types of meats you use that are seemingly related to  the chances of acquiring cancer.

Now , go back to your grilling and have a happy  and healthy holidays.

Dr. Marcus Wells, MD, MPH is the author of the books "Fit Family" and "Nano-Nutrition" that both discuss the affects whole foods/organic(macronutrients) and the bio-fuels micronutrients can supply for a healthy balanced lifestyle. Learn more at http://www.tgx360.com/ and http://www.nano-nutrition360.com/

Toxic Tastes: The Future of Processing Flavor in Foods

It seems that today we are discovering the "catch 22" of having so much technology so quickly which is applied to our daily lives. In food science alone the assembly line production of processed foods into our kitchens may have put other additives we weren't expecting on the kitchen table and has inadvertently created new disorders by overdosing on taste leading to "exotic illness and occasional death by taste".

Sometimes it would appear we are walking into a vitural pharmacy or chemical waste plant when we walk through our own kitchen now-a-days. We  feel that we have to "stash" our high fat high caloric foods in places  where nobody else can get their "measly" hands on our snacks. We boast on television about getting the better "light" beer that has more calories and oh, let's not forget about those good ole' moms who break out the trans fat munchies- after -school -treats with the artificial sweetners. "Thanks mom".

Saturday morning has been a cornucupio of all kinds of "goodies" to make our kids "grow" not just faster , but bigger. "Ho ho ho, it's not the jolly green giant". The latest CDC, NIH, and Academy of Pediatrics show alarming rates of childhood obesity not only from the snacks after school and Saturday morning sugary cereals, but also from so-called  fruit juices, energy drinks and soft drinks filled with artificial flavoring and sweetners. The FDA just reviewed the link between ADHD and artificial sweetners,  artificial flavoring and preservatives and there appears to be a strong case for supporting that conclusion.

Its not just that these kids are bombarded with the acrilimides in  french fries with trans fats, super saturated fats or sodas hyped up with so much MSG or even the plastic wrapping of fast food which has chemicals that alter hormones in the body. Styrene in styrofoam is a carcinogen, try to remember that the next time you're at the coffee grinder or get a  big gulp of some soda in a styrofoam cup. Oh yeahm by the way, heat from added to beverages increases the toxicity particularly in plastic containers. Let's not forget the BPA in plastic bottles , especially baby bottles. They are known to alter the biochemistry of hormones .

The foods are already bombarded with any number of chemicals before they are packed off to market. The antibiotics injected in animals may be problematic as they are making resistance more likely with not only very exotic organisms , but even everyday common ones. Let's not forget the estrogen that's given to them as well. The implications of femininzing boys or precocious puberty spikes we see today with girls may be as a result. But, we are forgetting growth hormone as well thats given to make these "franken-fish, beef,cows and chicken" Not that genetically modification isn't doing a good enough job in doing that by itself already.

The pesticides we use today are of the same ingredients used in agent orange. Yeah, can anyone say nepalm? Even the household insecticides have a bio-equivalent  identical chemistry to estrogens. This is another estrogen source to young girls and boys. By, the way estrogen is made from cholesterol. The higher the fat content in your diet , the more adipose, the more obesity, the more substrate to make estrogen in a 9 year-old girl.

Our foods are often time than not irradiated to destroy harmful particles, but what is the radiation causing us?

The restaurant and beverage industry is another matter all unto itself. The excito-toxin , such as MSG in diet sodas can alter brain chemistry. How many cans of that do you have a day.But, there's more. Aspartame is a nuero-toxic(excito-toxic) agent in sodas too and has been linked to seizures,  , brain tumors and reduced cognitive functioning. Sucralose, "the pink" stuff was first discovered as a pesticide with a chloride component inside it which also another carcinogen.

 Kids are drinking more sodas and energy drinks, but what's in them? High Fructose Corn Syrup or HFCS has become the leading artificial sweetner in many cans of soda today. Its high caloric intake is directly impacting the rate of childhood obesity and overweight kids to rise meteoroticlly. As a result the rate of childhood liver disease, high blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes is also on the rise.

We have to also be aware of nitrosamines to preserve meats or smoked meats which are also a carcinogen, high saturated fatty foods and oils still  a clear and present for causing heart disease along with overuse of common salt which is leading to more high blood pressure and stroke. Trans fats in our margarine is another culprit causing problems with metabolism.

The National Cancer Institute/NCI has looked at how America's  favorite past time of grilling out can produce carcinogens by how you cook your food and for how long you cook it for. It seems that grilled meats can seap off chemicals known as heterocyclic amines or HCAs . By changing the chemistry of protein these carcinogens are able to enter into the blood stream and effect harm.

When fats are grilled off a piece of meat, the smoke can contain a carcinogen known as PAHs a form of hydrocarbons called poly-aromatic hydrocarbons.

The public has to be warned of all and every possbility by both public health and nutrition experts of these consequences. Technology now needs to apply better science to prevent these innovative methods in food production that are creating dangerous side effects of its own "genius". This can only get worse by creating other problems in the health and economics of healthcare in this nation.