Why the Crockpot Is Awesome

Dear Natural Health Solutions Reader,

First things first: Nobody enjoys a perfectly grilled steak more than your correspondent. In fact, I plan to do serious damage to a grass-fed, grass-finished organic prime rib-eye this evening.

But… a nasty chemical fandango called the glycation reaction should give one pause before regularly chowing down on charred animal protein.

Glycation is the process of adding a carbohydrate to a protein via heat, rather than through the work of enzymes.

Numerous studies indicate that eating and metabolizing too many advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, raise the risk of a host of health conditions.

Although our bodies have a process that can eliminate AGEs, that capability can be overwhelmed by a high-AGE diet. As AGEs accumulate, oxidative stress ensues, which has been linked to the development or worsening of cardiovascular disease, chronic renal failure, and Type 2 diabetes.

AGEs are found in many foods, both raw and cooked, but they are particularly concentrated in animal proteins that have been grilled, roasted, broiled, deep-fried, or sauteed.

A good indicator of abundant AGEs is browning, known among food scientists (and educated cooks) as the Maillard reaction. It’s also known as the “flavor reaction,” which gives some indication as to why it has gained such a hold over us.

Meats, fats, and sugary and highly processed foods tend to be naturally high in AGEs, and develop much higher amounts once they have been cooked with high, dry heat.

Another grilling byproduct is compounds called heterocyclic amines, or HCAs, which seem to cause even more health risks.

Well-done meat and fish grilled over an open flame (or cooked at or above 392 F) are consistently associated with the formation of HCAs, which have been linked to prostate, pancreatic, and colorectal cancer.

Yet animal-based protein and fat are vital to robust health, providing vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids that are difficult or impossible to get through plants alone.

Further, these foods keep blood sugar steady — the epidemic of obesity and diabetes since the early 1980s is largely due to the government’s misguided advice to avoid these foods and chow down on low-fat carbs.

So it would be a great mistake to avoid beef, chicken, and fish simply because certain cooking methods have been shown to be problematic.

Fortunately, there are several delicious solutions:

• Make grilled, roasted, broiled, fried, or sauteed meat or fish an occasional treat. It’s challenging to say exactly how often you may indulge, as this depends on many variables, but the bottom line is that you should not rely on these methods as the principal ways you heat meat or fish. When you do cook this way, use marinades that contain honey, acids (lemon juice, vinegar), and common herbs and spices like garlic, ginger, thyme, rosemary, turmeric, and red chili pepper. All have been shown to significantly reduce the formation of HCAs. Honey appears to be the only sugar with this property. Grilling indirectly (not over the flame) is also helpful

• Learn to prefer meat at the rare end of the spectrum. Most studies find positive cancer associations only with well-done meat. (The rib-eye I’ll devour tonight will be a lovely red inside, after only a chaste kiss from the grill)

• If you love frequent grilling, do it with vegetables. Vegetables don’t appear to develop HCAs, due to their low protein content, even when charred, and their AGE levels are relatively low compared with those of meat, regardless of cooking method

• Above all, learn to appreciate stews, soups, and other dishes made with “slow, wet” cooking techniques.

In my experience, a quality slow cooker — popularly known as a crockpot — is one of the most valuable kitchen appliances one can own (here’s mine).

If you’ve had misadventures with these gadgets in the past, that’s likely because grains were involved: Nine hours of wet heat invariably dissolve rice and pasta to gummy mush.

Stick with organic meat and vegetables covered in quality chicken, beef, or fish stock. Drop them in before work, and by dinnertime, you’ll have soups, stews, and gumbos.

Leave the bones in, removing them just before serving, to get the additional advantage of calcium and cartilaginous compounds that are vital to bone and joint health.

Result: minimal AGEs and HCAs and maximal savory flavor and health benefits. Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Brad Lemley
Natural Health Solutions

Citations

Effect of different types of sugars in a marinating formulation on the formation of heterocyclic amines in grilled chicken. Food Chemistry, (2014), 145, 514-521.

Influence of honey-containing marinades on heterocyclic aromatic amine formation and overall mutagenicity in fried beef steak and chicken breast. Journal of Food Science, (2004) 69(3), 147–153.

Inhibitory effect of antioxidant-rich marinades on the formation of heterocyclic aromatic amines in pan-fried beef.  J Agric Food Chem., 2012 Jun 20;60(24):6235-40.

Effect of marinades on the formation of heterocyclic amines in grilled beef steaks. J Food Sci., 2008 Aug;73(6):T100-5.

Dietary intake of heterocyclic amines, meat-derived mutagenic activity, and risk of colorectal adenomas. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2001 May;10(5):559-62.

Pancreatic cancer risk: associations with meat-derived carcinogen intake in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO) cohort. Mol Carcinog. 2012 Jan;51(1):128-37.

Xenobiotic metabolizing gene variants, dietary heterocyclic amine intake, and risk of prostate cancer. Cancer Res. 2009 Mar 1;69(5):1877-84.

Advanced Glycation End Products in Foods and a Practical Guide to Their Reduction in the Diet, J Am Diet Assoc. 2010 Jun; 110(6): 911–16.e12.

Advanced Glycation End Products. Lori Zanteson, Today’s Dietitian, March 2014 Issue, Vol. 16 No. 3 P. 10.