Marinades add flavor and tenderize meat, making it possible to grill or broil some cuts that might otherwise be tough or dry. New research at Kansas State University indicates that marinades are healthy, decreasing by more than 70 percent the production of compounds called heterocyclic amines (HCA) that have been linked to certain types of cancer.
Scott Smith, a professor of food chemistry at KSU, led a study testing three commercial marinade blends on beef round steaks. The steaks were marinated for one hour then grilled at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. The steaks marinated in the Caribbean blend had an 88 percent decrease in HCA content, the herb blend cut HCA production by 72 percent and the southwest by 57 percent.
Marinating is a way for people who eat a lot of meat and cook it by high temperature methods like grilling to reduce their cancer risk, Smith said.
His earlier work with a pure extract of rosemary led him to wonder if the marinades he uses at home would produce a similar result. He likes to marinate beef and pork cubes together in a homemade mixture and grill them together as shish kabobs and use the same marinade on vegetables in a basket. The flavor is really good, he said, and as he learned, healthy as well.
A native of Kentucky, Smith is not a big fan of the thick, sweet Kansas City style barbecue sauces popular in the Midwest, but they seem to work pretty well in reducing HCAs, although there has not been a great deal of study. He said he “would be surprised” if dry herb rubs didn’t also work.
Labels may not specify which herbs or spices are included, Smith said, but some common ones that are used and are effective in reducing HCAs include oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary, sage and allspice. Commercial marinades may have some thickeners that make the mixture stick to the meat, but homemade mixtures are easy to make and also work.
HCAs are carcinogenic chemicals formed from cooking beef, pork, poultry and fish and high temperatures. Beef gets the most attention because poultry and fish and sometimes pork are typically cooked at lower temperatures, Smith said.
People who eat their beef medium-well or well-done had more than three times the risk of stomach cancer than those who eat rare or medium-rare beef, according to the National Cancer Institute. They also found that people who ate beef four or more times a week had more than twice the risk of stomach cancer than those consuming beef less frequently.
