For many Americans, it’s barbecue season, the time of the year for barbequing and enjoying foods outside with friends and family.
But several studies have linked barbecued food with cancer.
The smoke from barbeque grills is said to contain toxic and cancer-causing chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs.
Research suggests that eating meats, especially processed and red meat that has been cooked on a barbeque grill, is the most common way of getting these chemicals into our bodies.
Standing around a smoking barbeque. (Jon Callas/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic via Flickr)
Another way to ingest these chemicals is through breathing in the smoke that is produced while the meat is being cooked.
These harmful chemicals are said to cause various respiratory ailments and can result in DNA mutations.
A new study published in the American Chemical Society’s journal, Environmental Science & Technology, suggests skin absorption of the barbeque smoke may be even more harmful than breathing them in.
The paper goes on to suggest that while clothing could reduce some skin exposure, but once your clothes are saturated with barbecue smoke, your skin can absorb significant amounts of the harmful chemicals from them.
To reduce your exposure to the harmful chemicals, the researchers recommend that you wash those smoky clothes as soon as possible.
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