The weekend is here & it's barbecue time. Who will be burning the meat?

Some folks like their meat on the rare side, just lightly cooked.

Others like it well done, even charred where the surface of the meat has been burned — such as you can easily get with a BBQ.

Which is healthier? Or is it just a matter of preference?

The science is in, and we now know that when meat is burned in high-heat cooking methods, several unhealthy compounds can form:

• heterocyclic amines
• advanced glycation end-products
• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

And they increase the risk of several types of cancer, including breast and pancreatic cancer. According to a report on the government's National Institutes of Health site, women who eat their meat very well done have a 4.62 times higher rate of breast cancer than those who eat rare or medium-cooked meat. Well done meat also has a higher cancer risk, though not a high as very well done.

Healthline advises readers to...

1. Limit your intake of charred and smoked foods. If your meat is burnt, cut away the charred pieces.

2. Don't expose meat directly to a flame and minimize cooking at temperatures above 150°C/300°F.

Let's dig deeper: Is charred meat carcinogenic?

Perhaps you've seen the sensational headlines over recent years about how charring your red meat is a cancer risk.

Now, in my survey of the published material on this, it's not 100% rock solid proof that you'll get cancer. Cancer and red meat have too many variations for that.

However if your approach is the same as mine ("better safe than sorry"), then here are my key findings in point form.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) says, in connection with colorectal cancer, that processed red meat is a Group 1 carcinogen ("carcinogenic to humans"). Colorectal cancer includes cancer of the colon and rectum. [Source]

• But it's not just red meat, as reported in this article by the American Cancer Society: World Health Organization Says Processed Meat Causes Cancer.

• The WHO also concluded that red meat in general is a Group 2A carcinogen ("probably carcinogenic to humans"). This group does not include chicken or fish, in case you were wondering.

• Pork is a red meat, says the WHO. Not a white meat like the ads tell us.

• When you char your food (or use high-heat cooking), the process creates chemicals such as heterocyclic amines (HCAs). These can be damaging to the gut. The cooking of red meat produces higher levels of these HCAs than when white meat is cooked.

• "Researchers found that having a higher intake of meats prior to the breast cancer diagnosis was associated with a 23 percent risk of dying from any cause. And, having higher amounts of grilled, barbecued and smoked meats after the diagnosis of breast cancer carried an increased mortality rate of 31 percent – a very substantial rise." [Source]

HOW TO REDUCE YOUR RISK

"Cooking with moist heat, using shorter cooking times, cooking at lower temperatures, and by use of acidic ingredients such as lemon juice or vinegar." [Source]

So...

Shorter cooking times: Medium rare steak is safer than well done.

Cooking meat in water: This apparently avoids the HCAs issue. That'd be your soups and crockpot cooking, for example. Mike Geary, certified nutrition specialist, is one of many who recommend cooking meat in water, at least some of the time. Think soups and crock pot cooking. Read more.

Veggies: Eating red meat with cruciferous veggies such as Brussel sprouts and broccoli will reduce the impact of HCAs.

Antioxidants: They help reduce the impact of the HCAs. So serve your beef with salad. Unsweetened iced tea is also rich in antioxidants. So are berries, and other delicious foods. Thanks, Mike.

Marinate before you grill: A marinade with spices such as rosemary, thyme, oregano, garlic is recommended. Using acidic ingredients such as lemon juice or vinegar is good too.

Grass fed or factory farming? The high-density commercial farming corporations feed cattle with corn and corn derivatives. This apparently changes the chemistry of the meat. Modern "industrial farming" also uses an alarming array of chemicals, so your best and safest choice is grass fed.

QUESTION

So what's it to be? We can either continue to eat as we have always while we wait for more studies, OR we can decide to reduce our cancer risk by following a more cautious path.

Personally I'm not waiting. I'm already doing what I can to eat a healthy balanced diet of low-risk and no-risk foods, because cancer has been described many times as a lifestyle disease. How about you?

Read more from Gary

Health disclosure: I'm not a medical expert which is why I provide links to source material. My goal is to share information that can enhance the health of our readers (that's you -- and your loved ones).

• Swift is giving me 100 digital coins each day. Read here how to sign up & get going while the clock is still ticking!
• She got bitten by a cat. Turns out this is a highly contentious topic!
• Grounding. Woo woo? or Yeah yeah?
• Steemians Are Making These 2 Health Mistakes. Are You? So Easy to Correct. No Cost Either!
• Got Low Energy Levels? Check out the Science of Stable Blood Sugar
• Why Join Steemit? 9 Advantages of Getting in Today!
• Pycnogenol: Good for athletic performance too (and heart, asthma, osteo)
• CDC reveals: Vaccines contain mercury, aluminum & formaldehyde. Yikes!
• Health Warning. Some Painkillers Can Maim or KILL You! Are There Effective Natural Alternatives to Aspirin?
• My long and winding road to Steemit

_{Photo credits: Stencil}