Facts About Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) (Ex. Benzopyrene)
When barbecuing, burning fat drips onto an open flame producing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's), which are dangerous carcinogens. They are also produced when foods are browned or fried. There are more than twenty known, with the two most notable being benzopyrene and quinoline compounds. They are also found in the waxy coating used on fruits and vegetable. The canning of high protein foods cause some formation, as does the fermentation and pickling of foods. Cooked meats do not pose the only threat; even browned or burnt crusts contain a variety of carcinogenic substances. People consume many grams of overcooked food each day. By comparison, these same dangerous materials is only ½ gram, which is equal to someone smoking two packages of cigarettes per day.
Several carcinogens are produced. Carcinogens are mutagens, that is, substances that change the genetic code of cells. When meats are barbecued, broiled, char-broiled, smoked, fried, or even cooked above a temperature of 212F, the production of these carcinogens explode. In fact, many of the chemicals used to produce cancer in lab animals have been isolated from cooked proteins.
During barbecuing, for example, the fat from the meat drips onto the charcoal producing benzopyrene which then filters back up into the meat. A one-pound, well done, charcoal -broiled steak contains 4-5 micrograms of benzopyrene, an amount equal to what a person would get from smoking 600 cigarettes, stated Dave Townsend, an industry researcher who testified before a Minnesota tobacco trial.
Smoked meats also produce this carcinogenic agent. In Iceland, the numbers of patients with stomach and intestinal cancers is greater than anywhere else in the world. Their disease is attributed to the large consumption of smoked fish. The soot from smoking and roasting foodstuffs (meats, fish, coffee, etc.); charcoal broiling of meats and fish, and hard liquor aged in charred wood caskets are just some of the established carcinogens.
When foods are fried and have turned brown, they have been burned. The nutrients in the browned material have been destroyed. Proteins turn into carcinogenic acrolein; starches and sugars are caramelized through molecular destruction; fats and oils turn to smoke by destruction of fatty acids and glycerol. The rule of thumb is the higher the fat content of the food and the greater the temperature reached in cooking, the more carcinogens are produced.
A 2001 National Cancer Institute study found levels of benzopyrene to be significantly higher in foods that were cooked well-done on the barbecue, particularly steaks, chicken with skin, and hamburgers. Japanese scientists showed that cooked beef contains mutagens, chemicals that are capable of altering the chemical structure of DNA. However, the foods themselves are not necessarily carcinogenic, even if they contain trace amounts of carcinogens, because the gastrointestinal tract protects itself against carcinomas by shedding its outer layer continuously. Furthermore, detoxification enzymes, such as cytochromes P450 have increased activities in the gut due to the normal requirement for protection from food-borne toxins. Thus in most cases small amounts of benzo[a]pyrene are metabolized by gut enzymes prior to being passed on to the blood. The lungs are not protected in either of these manners.
"Know the labels of what you eat and drink. Have a healthy life."...:>)
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