That's the question many people are asking amidst reports that one of America's most popular cooking methods is linked with a higher risk for cancer.
   While it's true that grilled and charred meats can be risky, you don't have to shut down your grill. Simple cooking and preparation strategies and even the side dishes you serve can dramatically lower and even eliminate the risks associated with grilling. Although Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest grilling events of the year, more than half the people who own grills now use them year around.
   Most people think of grilled meats as a healthier option than other cooking methods because the food isn't fried or breaded and the fat drips into the grill rather than staying on the food. But while you are saving calories, you may be taking on other risks.
   Grilling creates two risky types of chemical reactions. The first occurs when fat drips onto the coals, forming carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs. The best way to prevent this is to avoid flaming and charring food. If it happens, the solution is to scrape off the black stuff.
   A bigger concern may be the chemical reaction that happens inside meats, chicken, and fish grilled at high temperatures and for long periods. Compounds in the foods react at high temperatures to create heterocyclic amines or HCAs. In laboratory studies, HCAs trigger breast, colon and prostate tumors in rats and mice. About 30 studies have shown a link between high consumption of grilled or well-done foods and cancer.
   A May study in a medical journal showed that postmenopausal women who often ate grilled, barbecued and smoked meats had a 47% higher risk for breast cancer than low meat eaters.
   While studies show the highest risk comes with eating well-done meats several times a week, the problem is we simply don't know whether there is any "dose" at which grilled foods are entirely safe.

   But the strategies to improve the safety of grilling are surprisingly simple:
 *Microwave foods for about a minute before grilling. Pre-cooking means the food cooks faster on the grill and isn't exposed to high temperatures as long. More important, the amino acids and creatine come out in the juice in the microwave, so no chemical reaction takes place once you put the food on the grill. A well-done hamburger that is microwaved for a minute first has about 10 times fewer HCAs than a burger cooked entirely on the grill.
 *Eat lots of veggies with your foods. Grilled veggies give you the great grilled flavor but don't produce the cancer-causing chemicals triggered in meat grilling. (You still need to scrape off the black stuff.) And studies show that eating cruciferous vegetables like broccoli as a side dish to grilled meats changes the way the body metabolized the chemicals created in grilling.
 *Use marinades. Marinating foods sets up a barrier against heat that lowers the creation of HCSs. Use a marinade with less oil, so less fat drips onto the coals.
 *Flip your food often. This lowers the temperature, lessening the chance of the risky chemical reaction triggered by high temperatures.
 *Cook red meat medium or rare. The biggest health risk comes when meat is cooked well done.

Finally, it's important to note that the risk comes mostly from cooking at high temperatures, whether it's from your oven, frying pan or backyard grill. When cooking indoors, Dr. Felton suggests cooking meats at 350 degrees or lower or use a slow cooker.
Excerpts from a recent Health Journal in WSJ.