Consumption of Thermally Processed Meat Containing Carcinogenic Compounds (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines) versus a Risk of Some Cancers in Humans and the Possibility of Reducing Their Formation by Natural Food Additives—A Literature Review

Cooking food at high heat, like grilling or frying, creates chemicals that can damage your DNA and lead to cancer.

Eating grilled or cooked red and processed meats, especially when well-done, might raise your chances of getting colorectal cancer, according to several big studies.

When you cook meat at high heat like grilling or frying, it creates certain chemicals called HAAs and PAHs. The amount of these chemicals depends on how long you cook it, how hot it gets, and what type of meat you're cooking.

Adding certain natural ingredients like spices, veggies, or tea to meat before cooking can make it healthier by reducing harmful chemicals that form during cooking. These ingredients work by fighting off bad molecules and changing how the meat cooks.

Eating processed meats like bacon or sausages can expose you to certain chemicals (PAHs and HAAs) that might raise your chances of getting several types of cancer, not just colon cancer. The risk seems to depend on the type of cancer and how the studies were done.

Certain chemicals in things like grilled meat or smoke get changed in your body into harmful substances that stick to your DNA. This can cause mistakes when cells copy themselves, leading to mutations and possibly cancer.