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To Reduce the Health Risk of Barbecuing Meat, Just Add Beer
PolygamousRanchKid (1290638) writes "Grilling meat gives it great flavour. This taste, though, comes at a price, since the process creates molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which damage DNA and thus increase the eater's chances of developing colon cancer. But a group of researchers led by Isabel Ferreira of the University of Porto, in Portugal, think they have found a way around the problem. When barbecuing meat, they suggest, you should add beer. The PAHs created by grilling form from molecules called free radicals which, in turn, form from fat and protein in the intense heat of this type of cooking. One way of stopping PAH-formation, then, might be to apply chemicals called antioxidants that mop up free radicals. And beer is rich in these, in the shape of melanoidins, which form when barley is roasted."
(The paper on which this report is based, sadly paywalled.)
Whoever posted this summary really should have added that. There are other places where one might consider adding beer that would be less effective. You don't have to get past the paywall to find that.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
What a stupid article. Beer is hardly the best source of antioxidants. Blueberries would be a far better choice.
"Eat antioxidants to prevent cancer" ....well thank you captain obvious, we have known this for many years!
"polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which damage DNA and thus increase the eater's chances of developing colon cancer"
Pretty rare to start with, so I suspect it's from "one in a million" to "1.5 in a million".
We have actual things to worry about, grilling isn't one of them.
plenty of hard clinical studies showing no link whatsoever between free radicals and cancer (or other claimed bad effects like aging).
the 1970s called, they want their junk science back.
I agree - DDT is just awful unless sweetened with a little saccharin.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
No, but you can pump it up your colon with a garden hose...
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
Must be a northerner.
Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
Don't use the good beer. Use the Miller Light that's been sitting in your fridge since someone brought it over months ago.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Oh no! We're all gonna die if we eat BBQ'd meat.
As with anything like this, the worry warts will probably buy into it.
Remember when they said: Saccharin, DDT, and the zillion of other things that are suppose to be bad for you?
My mother grew up in the deep back woods of east Texas during the 30's. A very big part of her diet growing up was various forms of smoked, dried, and grilled meat. A *lot* of such meat, often that was about all her diet was in a day, either by itself or was the main flavoring component. Many members of her family, both close and extended including herself and both her parents developed and died from colon and intestinal cancers. Her younger brother is suffering from it now. Many of the people who lived around her did, too. The thing is, once her family got out of that situation (improved economy, moving to the big city, etc) and ate a much more varied diet that didn't depend on smoked meat, the amount of familial colon and intestinal cancer has dropped down to almost nothing. That's good news for me and my siblings, of course. Dying from colon cancer is not my favored way of death, to be honest. It was a rough way to see my mom go.
-> I dislike sigs...
cooking with beer is not the same as drinking it, you should be just fine. My brother hates beer but loves when I make chilli because I use a good stout in it
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
As far as colon cancer is concerned, there is a lot of common sense here. I doubt a tiny little factor like anti-oxidants on your beef is going to make much difference if you're an overweight smoker in your 50s. Having beer around might encourage you to drink heavily, which is listed there as increasing risk. So. If you already like beer marinade then great. If you don't, then there's virtually no reason to use a recipe you don't like. Concentrate on the elephant in the room before addressing the mouse.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
I thought all experiments should have a control group, but BBQ without beer... Has that ever been tried before? Can than be credited with two discoveries?
Well, they are and they aren't. The terms are used in different countries to mean different things, but the activity known as "grilling" in the US is known as "barbecuing" in the UK (and I believe Australia.)
I suspect the article is written using an English dialect that uses the definition that applies to US-grilling/English-barbecuing. Not unreasonable, the world is a large place and it's not like Americans invented the English language. Why do we speak that fur'in Eurospeak anyway? Surely we should speak AMERICAN!! Hell yeah (etc)
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
According to my physician father, the first proven case of an environmental cause for cancer was that of smoked meat and fish in Iceland causing colon cancer. This is a long established relationship, not a recent fad.
By cooking over a low heat first you ensure that the meat is cooked evenly throughout, and then you sear the outside over a very hot grill. Otherwise you end up with raw inside and black outside. By searing last you get the flavour and evenly cooked meat.
4lbs+ blackberries (got a blackberry bush so not sure of weight, a good sized bowl), simmer with a little sugar till broken down, stain out the seeds. Set aside.
Grill your peppers (your call on heat, 2 bells and an equal weight of hot ones), garlic and 2 medium yellow onions until they are just soft. Onions will take longer (Peel them first so the smoke flavored parts are usable). Peel and seed (your call on heat) peppers. Set aside.
Fry 6 strips of bacon, then fry chopped smoked onions, peppers and garlic in bacon grease. Transfer to deeper pot. Liquify with sick blender. Add blackberries, fine chopped bacon, black pepper and salt. Bring to simmer. (optional: add dry chili powder and liquid) Add baking chocolate (2 or 3 squares, to taste), a good shot of Grand Marnier (Splet good, wouldn't want the euroweenies not to have anything to criticize) and sugar/honey/molasses to taste. Stir till melted.
Caramelize on ribs, careful it doesn't burn.
Good with cherries instead of black berries. Peaches don't work.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Correlation does not equal causation. Repeat this until you understand it. Darwin weeps to see science misused in this way - although as a Texan, you dumbasses have never understood science anyway.
Thanks, troll. I didn't make the correlation, a good number of oncologists have. They and their associates have seen a lot of it over the years. Diets heavy in smoked and grilled meat do have a correlation with increased chances of colon and intestinal cancers, especially if those diets start early in life.
And I never said *I* was a Texan, thanks for asking. Proud native Floridian. Some might suggest that's not any better, but hey... :)
-> I dislike sigs...