Healthy BBQ Tips for Summer

Many people avoid BBQ foods because the are worry about the cancer risk. However, although the risk is real, it can be greatly reduced by changing the way you do it and the food you choose to grill.

The risk comes from HCAs – Heterocyclic amines, which is a cancer-causing compounds formed by combining HIGH heat and muscle proteins of the red meat, poultry and seafood. Consumption of HCAs is linked to cancers of colon and stomach.

Here are some tips for you to enjoy your BBQ foods without needing to worry about your health.

1.     Turn the gas down and raise the grilling surface from the heat source to lower the cooking temperature. This can avoid the black char that can form on meat. The carcinogen content in the char is extremely high.

2.     Marinating and flipping meat often. Marinating can decrease HCA formation by up to 96 percent according to the American Institute of Cancer Research.

3.     Grill leaner cuts of meat that will drip less and cause less smoke. Fats on the meat melt under high heat and turn into grease. As the grease drip onto the red hot charcoal, lots of smoke arise which consists of another cancer-causing compound called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons-PAHs. Therefore, do not just focus on your red meat - beef, pork, lamb, and sausages/hot links at the BBQ but try using Chicken and Fish as other options.

4.     If you really enjoy red meat, try making kabobs. The smaller pieces of meat reduce cooking time and you can include more vegetables on the kabobs.

5.     Try grilling vegetables and fruits as they do NOT form HCAs. Also, fruits and vegetables contains cancer-fighting nutrients and phytochemicals which stimulate enzymes that can convert HCAs to an inactive, stable form that is easily eliminated from the body.

** Thanks for our dietitian Hazel Ng for providing this helpful information **

防癌燒烤秘訣

夏日來臨，不少人會以燒烤聚會慶祝。不少人會擔心燒烤會提高患癌的風險，所以避免進食燒烤的食物。雖然燒烤的確會提高患癌的風險，只要我們改變一下燒烤的方法，利用烘烤方法烤熟食物，就可以大大減低了當中的致癌物了。

燒烤會提高患癌的風險是因為當中所產生的化學物質HCAs (雜環胺)，這是一種以含有高熱量和肌肉蛋白質的紅肉，家禽或海鮮所結合形成的致癌化合物。 HCAs的攝入量與結腸癌和胃癌息息相關。

以下的提示能幫助你享受燒烤食物的同時，也能保持身體健康 :

1. 降低烹調溫度。這可避免燒焦肉類，焦掉的肉類含有極高的致癌物質。

2.  先以調味醬醃製食物，定時把肉翻轉避免燒焦。根據美國癌症協會的研究，先把肉類醃製能減少高達 96％HCAs的形成。

3. 多烘烤瘦肉類及少煙類食物。高脂肪的肉類高溫下熔化會變成油脂。當油脂滴在紅熱的炭上，會產生大量的煙霧，這煙霧含有致癌化合物，名為多環芳香碳氫化合物多環芳烴。因此，不要只烘烤紅肉類( 牛肉，豬肉，羊肉，香腸等)，多選擇其他的食物如雞肉和魚肉。

4. 如果你真的很喜歡紅肉，可嘗試串燒。切細的肉類可減少烹調時間，也可以把不同的蔬菜加在串燒上。

5.   嘗試烤蔬菜和水果，因為烤蔬果並不會產生HCAs。此外，水果和蔬菜含有抗癌的營養素和植物化學物質，植物化學物質可刺激身體中的蛋白酶，把HCAs轉換成無效用和穩定的形式，使 HCAs更容易被排出體外。

** 感謝營養師吳希素提供以上健康資訊**