Researchers are constantly discovering substances that can potentially cause cancer. In fact, so many things are reported that consumers often don't know what poses a serious threat and what doesn't. Research by the National Cancer Institute found that eating muscle meats, including beef, pork, fowl (foul) and fish, cooked at high temperatures, may increase your cancer risk. That's because, during the cooking process, certain chemicals known as heterocyclic amines (am-eens), or H-C-A's, are formed. These are chemicals that form when amino acids and creatine (cree-ah-teen) are combined under high heat. Stomach cancer was found to be much more likely to affect people who consumed meats cooked at high temperatures four or more times a week than those who didn't. Frying, boiling, and cooking on an open flame were found to cause the highest increase of H-C-A's in meat. While the threat this actually poses is debatable, researchers suggest that consumers use more low-heat cooking, including microwave ovens.
