Holistic Wellness for Life North of 50

Now that summer is here, more and more people are out grilling all sorts of goodies to eat and enjoy. Meats, veggies, desserts and even pizza can be cooked on the grill. Even though we as humans have used this method cooking  since the time of the neanderthal, there are some health concerns that have popped up recently to detract from this past time.

Cooking meat at high temperatures (like grilling) can create carcinogenic chemicals known as heterocyclic amines (or HCAs), which have been linked to cancer risk. But is there an upside? Yes, certain ingredients can make your meat much safer to cook and add more flavor!

Studies have found that adding certain herbs or fruits to the marinade for meat or mixed directly into uncooked meat will greatly reduce the amount of HCAs found in your meat after cooking.  To find out what they are, keep reading.

• Rosemary Contains the antioxidant carnosol which reduces HCA’s and tastes good on beef or pork. Double bonus.

• Fingerroot Also called Chinese ginger, this spice is found mainly in Asian dishes, and gets its name from its shape. A study from the Kansas State University found it also aids in reducing HCAs in cooked meat.

• Turmeric The same study found that turmeric, an Indian spice found in many curries and known for its yellow color, can reduce carcinogenic chemicals.

• Garlic and onion You may already add these tasty, barbecue-friendly ingredients to your ground beef before cooking, but they also reduce HCAs.

• Blueberries It may seem odd and counter-intuitive to add fruit to meat, but mixing a cup of ground blueberries or cherries into a pound of ground beef before grilling can reduce HCAs by up to 90 percent. And according to this recipe, the taste is undetectable.

So get your ingredients together, get some friends over and start enjoying healthy food and good times. Many thanks to Fit Sugar for the information for this article.

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