Memo to Memorial Day barbecuers: Charred meat is out. Hotdogs and brats? Forget it.

It’s hard to imagine a summer weekend without the aroma of meat on the grill, but the American Institute of Cancer Research is urging everyone to rethink this all-American pastime.

Grilling any meat – red, white or fish – produces potent carcinogens, the institute said after analyzing the results of 7,000 studies.

“Grill fruits and vegetables instead of red meat and hot dogs this year,” the institute advised.

If real men can learn to eat quiche, maybe they’ll also come to love grilled peaches.

The high heat of grilling reacts with proteins in red meat, poultry and fish, creating heterocyclic amines, chemicals that are linked to cancer. Another form of cancer-causing agents, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are found in the smoke created when fat and juices from meats drip and hit the heat source. The smoke rises and can stick to the meat.

“When you hit the amino acids in those meats with very high heat it creates heterocyclic amines – that’s what they consider carcinogenic,” says Debbie Bessen, a registered dietician specializing in cancer nutrition at Holy Name Hospital.

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