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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