The BBQ Report

An interesting comment from author Steven Raichlen concerning the health risks associated with grilled foods appeared on The Slate the other day.

I feel obliged to discuss one topic we haven’t raised that may concern some nervous Nellies: barbecue and carcinogens. At the heart of the debate are HCAs (heterocyclic amines)—alleged carcinogens that form when dripping fat and meat juices hit the hot coals. One way to avoid this is to indirect grill or smoke. I wouldn’t worry about it too much, even if you’re fanatic about direct grilling (and you should be). Columnist Ed Blonz, who holds a Ph.D. in nutrition, puts it in perspective this way: Eating 100 charcoal-grilled steaks will statistically increase your odds of dying by one in a million—but so will rock climbing for 1.5 minutes, bicycle riding for 10 minutes, and being a 60-year-old man for 20 minutes. In other words, the risks are greatly overrated.

This issue comes up quite a bit, and I really agree with Steven on this one. Yes there’s some measure of risk, but it’s trivial in the grand scheme of things. I wonder in fact how many more people are injured by hot coals each year? You don’t hear people worrying about that.