GREENSBORO, N.C. — Grilled versus fried. We all know which one is considered more healthy and lower in saturated fat, but anytime we cook meat on an open flame, there's a danger to our health that makes frying seem not so bad.
"It's really important to marinate your meat to prevent cancer-causing properties when you cook over an open flame," said Kate Watts, Cone Health Dietician.
The cancer-causing properties are Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons or PAHs. These are chemicals that can occur when you barbecue or grill food-- particularly meats.
When you eat PAHs, it increases the risk of cancer. There are three things you can do to minimize PAHs while you grill.
"So we want to marinate our meat, but a homemade oil-based marinade is going to be much healthier than a store-bought creamy marinade in a bottle, "
The marinade needs to have oil in it that could be vegetable, sunflower, canola, or peanut. You want to use an oil that has a high smoke point. And the key according to scientific studies, is lemon juice. The addition of lemon juice in the marinade reduces the amount of PAHs by more than half.
We all like the look of char marks, but we need to reduce the visual char on any of our foods.
Part of the chemical release happens when the meat drippings get on the open flame. If you get a lot of flare-ups, it's because the meat is dripping. You can decrease that by buying leaner cuts of meat.