The Red Scare

If it were possible to make an aggregate list of every person in America's top 20 favorite foods, I'd be willing to bet some good money that barbecued, smoked, or grilled meat of some shape or kind would end up on that list. Probably not before pizza or chocolate, but both would nonetheless still make the list. Unfortunately, there is new evidence to suggest that eating too much red meat could be just as unhealthy as many of our favorite junk foods, only for different reasons.

A recent study from the University of South Carolina reported that post-menopausal women who had the highest consumption (defined as more than once a week) of grilled, barbecued, or smoked red meat had a forty-seven percent increased risk of breast cancer. Moreover, those who combined their red meat heavy diet with a scarcity of vegetables had an even greater risk -- seventy-four percent.

This is likely due to the 2 type of known carcinogens that can develop in red meat that is prepared in any of these fashions: polycyclic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs).