Because of the low temperatures used in these cooking modalities, microwaving or boiling meat produces very low levels of HCAs. Spices Beat Carcinogenic Meat Compounds It is a well known epidemiological fact that those of us who eat a diet that has a strong bias towards meat - especially red meat - have a significantly increased risk of developing cancers of the pancreas, colon, breast and prostate. The reason for this is that a number of carcinogens are found in meat; the most potent of these being the heterocyclic amines (HCA).

Incidentally it is only muscle meat (from beef, pork chicken and fish) that forms HCAs as it contains a compound called creatine which, when heated, reacts with the amino acids in meat. In other words, meat that is browned, burnt or cooked at a temperature of greater than 200 C has the highest levels of HCAs whereas underdone meat has the lowest levels of these harmful compounds. The interesting thing about these mutagenic chemicals is that they are only formed when meat is cooked - and the higher the cooking temperature, the greater the quantity of HCAs produced.

Moreover, microwaving meat for two minutes before cooking by other methods can reduce the formation of HCAs by up to 90%.