Good-for-You Grilling

By Cynthia Moore, a University of Virginia Health System nutritionist
Grilling is not only easy, it's a great way to entertain in the summer, makes food taste great - and offers plenty of health benefits.
Grilling reduces the hidden fat in meats and makes it easier to fix vegetables that the whole family will enjoy. Compliment grilled foods with heart-healthy sliced tomatoes, watermelon and other summer fruits and salads. Add extra flavor, but not extra fat, by using dry rub spices for meats or chicken, an Italian dressing marinade for meat, or peppers or mesquite wood chips with fish.

If you grill often, here's how to do it safely.

It's important to know that cooking "muscle meat" foods such as chicken and beef at very high heat produces HCAs or heterocyclic amines. Shorter times at high heat reduce HCAs. Other grilling byproducts are PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) residues. Dripping fat from meat or chicken over lapping flames can cause PAH residues on the food. Both HCAs and PAHs are thought to be cancer-promoting substances; but both can be reduced with a few simple adjustments: 

• Grill vegetables more often, or along with meats like beef, chicken or fish.
• To limit HCAs, use smaller cuts of muscle meats so they cook quickly (think kebabs & fish). Large cuts of meat can be partially pre-cooked in the oven or stovetop and just finished on the grill.
• The American Institute for Cancer Research suggests that marinating meats before grilling may reduce HCAs by as much as 90 percent.
•  Trim the fat and place the meat or chicken away from the highest flames; this reduces PAHs. Too much fire lapping up and charring cooking meat isn't good.
• Food safety: keep the potato salad, hamburger patties; chicken and fresh fish cool until time to grill or eat. Summer heat helps bacteria grow and multiply. Keep outdoor food cool until time to prepare or eat.
•   Avoid eating blackened or charred food.

Grilling - All Year Long

Traditional BBQ cooking is often at a lower temperature than high-heat grilling.