Carcinogens in Roasted Chicken?

Our bodies are less efficient at detoxifying heterocyclic amines—carcinogens formed from cooked muscle tissue—than once believed.

January 3, 2011
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  • Michael Greger M.D.

    Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the prequel to this video, “Fecal Residues on Chicken.” Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos–please feel free to explore them as well!

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  • dplatter

    Dr. Greger, thanks for all the fantastic information. I’m in AU, and complained earlier this week to the local Cancer Council about their dietary suggestions that include meat. Would you be at all able to respond to any of their “key messages”:

    They seem to try awfully hard to find a way recommend meat, and I’d be grateful for any references to peer reviewed research, especially larger scale studies. I’m no scientist. :)

    FROM THE CANCER COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA:

    • The term ‘meat’ encompasses a variety of foods, including unprocessed red meat (beef, veal, pork
    and lamb), processed meat, poultry and fish. Processed meat differs from unprocessed red meat
    in that it may be cured with the addition of preservatives and/or other additives.
    • The relationship between meat consumption and the risk of cancer, especially colorectal cancer,
    has been controversial. The consumption of red meat and processed meat appears to be
    convincingly associated with a modest increased risk of colorectal cancer.
    • There is limited suggestive evidence that red meat may be associated with an increased risk of
    oesophageal, lung, pancreatic and endometrial cancer, and processed meat with oesophageal,
    lung, stomach and prostate cancer.
    • There does not appear to be a strong association between red meat or processed meat and the
    risk of other cancers.
    • There is insufficient evidence to draw any conclusions on poultry intake and cancer risk.
    • For fish consumption, there is limited but suggestive evidence that it may be linked to a reduced
    risk of breast, colorectal and prostate cancer.
    • Despite the concerns about meat and cancer, Cancer Council recognises that lean red meat is an
    important contributor to dietary iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and protein in the Australian diet.
    • Cancer Council recommends people consume moderate amounts of unprocessed lean red meat.
    A moderate amount of meat is 65-100g of cooked red meat, 3-4 times a week

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    • Toxins

      dplatter,
      Debates are always fun. Here is what you should do, do a search on nutritionfacts.org for “meat” or “cancer”, then go to every relevant video. Pull up the sources cited box and go to each study. Write to them a lengthy email quoting and explaining each study you listed with hyperlinks in an organized manner. There is a huge body of knowledge at your disposal! I have done with with dairy consumption and the consumption of oils, it is a really solid tactic.

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  • dplatter

    Toxins, thanks for the comment. Who have you been debating?

    I’ve been trying follow your suggestion but I’m having trouble finding a real smoking gun. The website talk so much about the latest research, but I need something that’s shows conclusively that meet overall causes cancer in humans. but I’m keeping up my research and also going through some books that I have.

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    • Toxins

      i debate nutritionist now and again. Well, for individual meat for example, cite arachadonic acid in chicken, cite the contaminants in fish, and cite the correlation with meat and degenerative diseases.
      http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/meat-mortality/

      You wont find a study that concludes “Meat causes cancer”. There will be reactions or compounds found in meat that cause these diseases.

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  • dplatter

    Thanks, Toxins.

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