Marinate Meat For Healthy Grilling?

Study Shows That Store-Bought Marinades May Keep Cancer-Causing Compounds From Forming On Grilled Meats

(WebMD)  It's enough to make your mouth water. The smell of a sizzling steak on the grill on a summer evening, as friends gather around the barbecue.

Then a pesky thought buzzes your brain. Can grilling meat cause cancer-causing chemicals to form?

That substance that forms on meats cooked at high temperatures (such as from grilling, frying, or broiling meat) includes compounds that researchers say are "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen." The compounds are known as HCAs, or heterocyclic amines. Some research has shown that eating more HCAs increases your risk for several cancers, including colorectal, stomach, lung, pancreas, breast, and prostate cancers.

But researchers at Kansas State University and The Food Science Institute believe marinades may hold the key to healthier grilled meats.

Here's how their study was carried out.

Researchers marinated eye of round steaks for an hour in three different store-bought marinades. The meat was coated on all sides and turned several times. Steaks were then grilled at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for five minutes on each side.

They also tested steaks with no marinade and those with marinade made only with water, vinegar, and soybean oil.

Grilling Madinated Meat

When the meat was tested for total HCAs, the steak cooked in the Caribbean marinade mixture had an 88% reduction in the "bad" compounds.

Those cooked in the herb marinade had a more than 72% drop in compounds. The Southwest marinade meats had a 57% reduction in compounds.

What did the three store-bought marinades have in common?

They all contained two or more spices from the mint family, which are rich in antioxidants, the researchers note.

"Commercial marinades offer spices and herbs, which have antioxidants that help decrease the HCAs formed during grilling," according to a prepared statement from study lead researcher J.S. Smith, PhD. "The results from our study have a direct application since more consumers are interested in healthier cooking."

Although the study didn't include recipes, it did include ingredients.

The Caribbean marinade contained thyme, red and black pepper, allspice, rosemary, and chives.

The Southwest marinade was made with paprika, red pepper, oregano, black pepper, garlic, and onion.

And the herb marinade was prepared with oregano, basil, onion, jalapeno, parsley, and red pepper.

All of the store-bought tested marinades also were made with sugar and salt.

Other research looking at the possible beneficial affects of marinating before grilling have been mixed, the researchers say.

The new results are published in the Journal of Food Science.

Oh heck, why not just rub your steak in acorns and beggar weeds, cook over a flame of burning moss and then garnish with soy protien extract and squirrel droppings?
Posted by sincityq
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You''ve eaten at my mother-in-laws!

[spadeisspade]

I''m dubious about this study; if they didn''t pat the meat dry before cooking it, it''s not going to even get nice grill marks, which contain the carcinogens. Also, store bought marinades are disgusting, full of high fructose corn syrup and a million other bizarre ingredients you don''t even see on a bottle of SUNSCREEN. I wonder if Kraft funded this?

[itgranny]

I''m a rub person myself. Wonder if the herbs and spices do the same thing.

[deceler8]

So marinade is sorta like chemo...cool.

[Razzl]

"We can not even eat with government funded studied getting involved."

Science is there to improve our lives. The next time you watch a friend or family member die painfully of cancer consider how simple the cause probably was--food, air, water, sunlight--and how much you wish they and you could have known how to prevent it. Putting on your right-wing anti-government airs looks pretty pathetic when a small investment produced a simple study about a common question that could save thousands of lives...

[papabc]

***??
BBQ
I cook, I don''t burn, I eat, food taste good

What the hell is wrong with us these day.
We can not even eat with government funded studied getting involved.

Are we almost at the soylent green stage?
Soylent Green is Psople.

Government ... time to keep the flock out of my kitchen.

[docnannie]

They just always have to find a way to ruin anything enjoyable... Who thinks up this test *** anyway? Now you can''t even cook a steak on the grill without *** with a marinade?... Horse_ _ _ _!