Cooking any meat products at high temperatures (above 300 degrees F) and exposing them to smoke — by grilling, frying, or broiling, for instance — produces chemicals known as heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are known to increase tumor development throughout the bodies of laboratory rodents. No direct link has been found between the formation of these chemicals on meat products and cancer in humans, but researchers around the world continue to investigate possible links between meat consumption, cooking methods, and cancer.
