Hot and Holy Smokes! (and why that’s bad for our food)
/As a kid living briefly in Reno, Nevada I was enamored by the Hot August Nights festival – classic cars and roller skates, hot dogs and root beer floats. Today in my native state of Idaho, I associate hot August with wildfires and unpredictable smoke that may extinguish end-of-summer camping and hiking plans. I certainly never associated auto exhaust, grilling wieners, or wood smoke with human health. Only cigarette smoke was bad for us, right?
Now, adding to environmental toxins, we’re seeing the detrimental effects of smoke on our toxic load. Wildfire and campfire smoke is full of hundreds of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (“PAHs”), chemicals also found in cigarette smoke, exhaust, and even gas, wood or charcoal grill fumes when smoking fish and cooking meat at high temperatures. The problem with PAHs is that some are carcinogenic; others affect the nervous system and brain.
I know, asking you not to grill meat or breathe wildfire smoke would result in eye-rolls and dampen August activities. However, not only does the smoke from cooking food cause toxins, but charring burgers, baking bread, popping corn, curdling cheese, and roasting coffee cause chemical reactions between sugars and proteins: the Maillard reaction. Those tantalizing smells correlate food aroma with air quality.
Thankfully, many aromatic chemicals produced from the Maillard reaction are harmless! But some are advanced glycation end products (“AGEs”) highly linked to cancer, diabetes, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, cataracts and (note the acronym) premature aging.
A most concerning AGE is the carcinogen acrylamide, a byproduct of the Maillard reaction that is unusually elevated in French fries and chips – processed foods made at high temperatures. Thankfully, many foods made crispy, bronzed, and fragrant by the Maillard reaction are safer to eat.
AGEs also occur naturally in our bodies and those of us who live in the mountains cannot always avoid PAHs from air pollution (wood smoke, forest fires). We can’t escape our genetics (apparently Neanderthals were more tolerant to chemicals in smoke than our ancestors from a few generations ago). The problem, however, is cumulative toxic overload.
To reduce exposure to PAHs, AGEs and other potentially harmful chemicals that result from cooking our food, we can shift a habit or three:
- Eat more vegetables, fish, starchy whole foods, fruits and vegetables high in nutrients that offset toxins.
- Eat more herbs and spices to reduce glycation (the “G” in AGE).
- Marinate meat in acid, such as lemon juice and vinegar, for at least one hour before cooking (even at high temps) to reduce AGEs.
- Cook meat and full-fat dairy at lower temperatures and with liquid, such as boiling, steaming and poaching, which does not produce PAHs.
- Bake cookies longer and at lower temperatures (they’ll be less brown, and less toxic).
- Control your blood sugar to reduce creation of AGEs in the body.
- Don’t smoke or inhale smoke.
Our bodies can handle inhaling roasting our brats over a campfire (from time to time) and the smoke of wildfire season (in moderation). But when countless other toxins cling to the air inside our kitchens, restaurants, gardens, farms, and food supply, and when we over-consume steaks and fries and other foods enhanced by chemicals that lead to poor health, perhaps it’s time to seek balance by adopting food habits that offset toxic load.
If you’re interested in learning more about the detox program I offer yearly, click here.
RESOURCES
https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/PAHs_FactSheet.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5266861/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7141577/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308814604004613
https://cen.acs.org/articles/90/i40/Maillard-Reaction-Turns-100.html