barbecuing the healthy way

Although many of us enjoy barbecuing every day throughout the summer months, like most good things, health experts recommend taking a moderate approach.

Excessive quantities of charred food may increase cancer risk in some people. As meat cooks on the grill, its fat content is reduced as the fat drips onto the coals below. Although this process plays a key role in giving barbecued food its trademark flavour, barbecuing produces an undesirable chemical known as heterocyclic amine (HCA). The smoke can carry the HCA back into the food. The good news is that marinating meat beforehand will seal it and reduce invasion from HCA. Wrapping food in a foil packet before cooking it on the grill will also eliminate this risk.