"Carcinogens in Meat"
What are some of the ways we can decrease
our exposure to the carcinogenic substances
in meat that are formed during cooking?
They have a whole list of hazard factors.
The first factor is meat type,
with processed meat—red or white,
being the worst.
Then temperature, with cooking at
under 260 degrees Fahrenheit,
so like boiling or microwaving, safer,
whereas broiling, roasting, or
pan-frying is the worst.
Turning it over every minute lowers risk,
and rather than a dark and flavorful crust,
they recommend pale and soft, cooked rare,
lowers risk as long as you meet
food safety guidelines.
Spices or a vinegar-containing marinade
lowers carcinogen formation.
Avoid gravy, stick to one serving,
which is like a deck of cards
or the size of a bar of soap,
and eat vegetables and fruit with your meal.
Even just being around a barbeque
may be a bad idea, even if you
don’t eat anything off of it.
Here, they estimated the extra lifetime
cancer risk associated with standing
about 6 feet away from a charcoal grill every day
and about 30 feet away with both
25% skin exposure,
and 100% skin exposure.
They’re not talking about grilling in the nude;
this is out of the recognition that
light clothing probably provides
little protection from these gaseous carcinogens.
Skin contact is often neglected in these
kinds of risk assessments of
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,
but we know it’s a problem from studies
on firefighters that show that even in
full protective gear,
breathing through a respirator,
they still end up with these compounds in their bodies,
likely through their neck under their helmets.
These results indicated that outdoor exposure
to barbecue fumes
(particularly through the skin)
may have become a significant but largely
neglected source of health hazards,
but their estimates were from barbecuing
once a day, every day, year-round.
Though, they’re thinking that toxic fumes
might actually stick to people’s clothing,
which could then bring inside
with them to continue exposure.
These are all some of the chemicals
that led to the official scientific body
that determines what is and is not
carcinogenic to declare that
processed meat does cause cancer,
and red meat probably causes cancer.
They considered both the nitrites
in processed meat as well as these
cooked meat carcinogens.
However, due to the practically unavoidable
presence of other carcinogenic compounds,
which are already present in raw
or unprocessed meats, these chemicals
are not the only potentially carcinogenic
substances in meat and meat products.
These other substances are well known
environmental pollutants, such as
some heavy metals, dioxins, and PCBs,
so-called persistent organic pollutants,
to which we’re primarily exposed via
dietary intake of dairy products, meat, and fish.
Although dioxins are created when
paper pulp is bleached, but I have
a feeling this is an autocorrect error.
How bad a problem is this in the United States?
The USDA examined whether levels of
dioxin-like compounds in meat
and poultry indicate a possible concern
for U.S. public health, and they concluded
that a typical U.S. adult’s exposure
is below the EPA-established reference dose,
meaning the maximum acceptable limit
of a toxic substance.
Only children consuming average daily
servings of meat or poultry
regularly containing the highest levels
may exceed the limit.
Putting all the carcinogens together,
some toxicologists suggest limiting
the consumption of beef, pork, and chicken
such that children consume at most
five servings combined of all
these meats each;
so, on average, like one serving
every six days or so max.
Yeah, but what about organic meat?
We'll find out, next.