In times of abundance our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate meat on a daily basis, cooked slowly over/in heat, often throwing the entire (small) animal into the fire.
In the modern era we tend to lean toward faster cooking methods over stewing and roasting, instead choosing to grill chicken, fry steaks and BBQ lamb chops to complement our busy lives. But paradoxically, our quest for healthy, lean, fast cooked meat could be threatening our health, due to a little known process called the “maillard reaction”, which occurs during high temperature cooking.
The maillard reaction occurs as a result of a series of reactions between proteins and carbohydrates, and are the precursor of carcinogenic (cancer promoting) compounds called "heterocyclic amines" in high-temperature grilled meat.
In laymen’s terms this means that when meat is cooked quickly at high temperature it produces more carcinogenic properties. Slow cooking meat for several hours is preferable because it avoids the maillard reaction.
This evidence first came to light in the 1980s when Japanese researchers consistently fed rats fatty red meat cooked quickly at high temperature. The rats soon developed colon cancer. Anti-meat advocates then began using this research as proof that meat causes cancer. However, the research shows that it isn’t the meat that causes cancer but the maillard reaction caused by the fast, high temperature cooking process.
This isn’t to say you should avoid using a BBQ or frying your meat. But it is important to be aware that consistently eating fast cooked, high temperature meat may cause potential health risks. And so, in order to maintain optimum health aim to eat a broad range of meats and fish using slow cooking methods.
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