- Fast food may be better for your health
than steak from a restaurant, according to a just-released study by government
scientists who found more cancer-causing compounds in restaurant-prepared
meats than in fast food meats.
-
- Suspected cancer-causing compounds known
as heterocyclic amines, often formed during cooking, were found in restaurant-prepared
meats at levels as much as ten times higher than similar fast food items
previously analyzed by the scientists. The study involved beef hamburgers,
steaks and pork ribs, purchased from three different national restaurant
chains in the Beltsville, Md., area near Washington, D.C.
-
- The study from Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Department of Agriculture
is reported in the Oct. 31 Web edition of the Journal of Agricultural and
Food Chemistry, published by the American Chemical Society, the world's
largest scientific society. It is scheduled to appear in the November 16
print edition of the peer-reviewed journal.
-
- Heterocyclic amines are known carcinogens
in animals and are believed to contribute to cancer in people.
-
- "Time and temperature" probably
account for the difference in fast food and that from other types of restaurants,
says Livermore chemist Mark Knize, lead author for the report. Although
fast food chains would not divulge their preparation secrets, he said,
the researchers believe that fast food cooking times and temperatures are
quicker and lower than other restaurants. Previous research has demonstrated
that hotter temperatures and longer cooking times are important to the
formation of heterocyclic amines.
-
- This is the first time that measurements
have been made of heterocyclic amines in meats specifically prepared by
restaurant chefs, according to Knize. The "field test" is significant,
he says, since it gives clear support to what previously had only been
laboratory studies of the formation of the compounds. There are no established
rules or guidelines for the acceptable level of heterocyclic amines in
food, says Knize.
|
