Myth 3
Will eating charcoal grilled meat increase the risk of cancer? This is rather difficult to prove or disprove. It depends on how regular is “regular”. Once a day is “regular”, as is once every 6 months. It is more important to state the frequency: very frequent, not so frequent, occasionally or rarely. Dietary studies are very difficult to perform due to the fact that we rely on individuals memory. In addition, charcoal grill cooking depends on what is the end product on the grill, i.e., whether it is overcooked to the extent of being burnt or still rare. Nevertheless, heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAA) from barbercued meat have been known to cause cancer of the liver, colon, breast, skin, prostate and lung in rodent (mice) experiments. Furthermore, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from charcoal-broiled/grilled meat is associated with oncogene mutations seen in animal models. It is important therefore to bear in mind these results when cooking the meat on the charcoal grill.