Marinate BBQ meat to cut risk of cancer

MEAT should be marinaded before being cooked on a barbecue to reduce the risk of cancer, experts have warned.

The coating helps to stop cancer-causing chemicals within the smoke and flames from getting into the meat, they say.

The warning comes in a new documentary called The Truth About Meat, in which presenter Chris Bavin examines the health dangers associated with food.

In the programme, to be broadcast on BBC1 on Thursday evening, Bavin recommends using a gas barbecue or woodchips rather than traditional charcoal.

Viewers are also warned to never let the meat get charred or burned.

Dr Martin Rose, a chemist who advises the Food Standards Agency, said: ‘When you cook fatty foods on barbecues, the fat drips on to the charcoal and, with very high uncontrolled temperatures, you end up with black charred meat that can bring out a cancer-causing substance called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.’

Laboratory tests on steak barbecued in a beer marinade showed ‘significant reductions’ in the harmful chemicals compared to plain steaks, but Dr Rose believes that using any marinade will have the same effect.