Marinating Your Steak Could Prevent Cancer

Just in time for Independence day and summertime barbecues, Science Daily has reported that marinating your steak with certain herbs and spices could prevent cancer, by reducing the HCA's (cancer-causing compounds) in your meat.

J. Scott Smith, who is a food professor at Kansas State University has examined in the lab what effects marinating could have on HCA's. These carcinogenic, or cancer-causing compounds, are found in many different foods. Smith says, "Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) in foods have been in the spotlight for many years. They are carcinogenic and mutagenic compounds that are found at parts per billion levels in cooked fish and meats."

Smith, investigating for the Food Safety Consortium, set out to find out what effect, if any, the marinating process could have on steak. In previous research, grilled beef was discovered to be a major source of HCA's caused by dietary intake, even when cooked at 375 degrees Fahrenheit and above. These types of dietary HCA's have been associated with many different human cancers. One of these such HCA's was shown to cause prostate cancer in rats earlier this year. Smith states that this gives reason to find out ways to prevent these HCA's from forming in the cooked meats humans are consuming.

Smith also says "Cooking meats with natural antioxidants decreases or eliminates HCAs on meat". The recent surge in popularity of natural products, such as rosemary, that contain natural antioxidants, shows promise for fighting against these HCA's. Using this information, Smith and his team of researchers experimented with many different spices, such as rosemary, mint, basil, sage, savory, marjoram, and thyme. All of these herbs and spices contain large amounts of three important compounds: carnosic acid, carnosol, and rosmarinic acid. Those three acids are strong antioxidants.

Armed with this information, Smith and his team measured HCA levels in grilled round steaks before and after marinating them. For marinating, a product with rosemary and thyme, found in many grocery stores for marinating purposes was used. This product also contained pepper, allspice, and salt. This particular marinade yielded an 87% decrease in HCA levels. The decrease was correlated to the high levels of antioxidants in the marinade.

Smith states "We believe that addition of various substances to the meat before cooking may reduce the carcinogenic HCAs. Marinating steak before grilling is a practical way to reduce HCA contents of even well-done beef for many consumers".

While the rosemary and thyme-containing marinade proved to be the most effective, two other marinades were tested and showed nearly as effective results. These two contained different ingredients . One contained oregano, thyme, onion, and garlic. The other contained oregano, garlic, onion, basil, and parsley.

All three marinades can be purchased from a grocery store. About these, Smith said "These are the ones that are packaged as powders. There are different brands. We followed the marinating instructions according to the label. We cooked it and it tasted fine." It is also stated that these products can be added directly to their meat. Ground beef was given as an example for this.

Following this study, Smith stated that he plans research on more marinades. He says "I plan on taking a look at a lot of them, probably about 20 of them. The major ones are in the mint family: basil, sage, thyme, oregano and rosemary. They have some similar properties". Also listed as possibilities for more research were parsley, fennel, paprika, cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Also to be looked at by Smith are the possible changes in taste, texture, and nutrition, if there are any. With the research so far, there does not appear to be any strong changes in either of the three.

News Source:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070627124111.htm Science Daily "Brush On The Marinade, Hold Off The Cancerous Compounds"