Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff works dot com
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Speaker 1: brain Stuff today for details. Hi, I'm Marshall brain with
Speaker 1: today's question. Is it true that grilling meat can cause cancer?
Speaker 1: If you've read the how stuff Works article on how
Speaker 1: cancer works, then you know that there are many different
Speaker 1: things that can cause cancer. You would think that cooking
Speaker 1: meat over an open flame would not be one of
Speaker 1: those things. However, unfortunately, it does appear that grilling, broiling,
Speaker 1: or frying meat produces substances that do have a connection
Speaker 1: to cancer. Heat has a general party of allowing chemicals
Speaker 1: to change from one form to another. You see this
Speaker 1: happen whenever you cook an egg. The heat changes the
Speaker 1: proteins in the egg and solidifies them. In the case
Speaker 1: of meat, high temperatures convert things like fat in the
Speaker 1: meat into substances called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Speaker 1: are groups of benzene rings, and like benzine itself, these
Speaker 1: rings can be modified in the body to produce new
Speaker 1: chemicals that do damage DNA. How much of a risk
Speaker 1: does well done meat represent It seems like it is
Speaker 1: a noticeable difference. For example, women who eat a lot
Speaker 1: of well done meat seem to have a much higher
Speaker 1: rate of breast cancer. If you want to avoid these
Speaker 1: risks completely, boiling meat is a good way to prepare it.
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