Adding beer to meat before barbecuing can reduce the chance of potentially cancerous chemicals being formed during cooking, research suggests. The study, which was published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, evaluated the effects of three different beers as a marinade for pork.
In the study, scientists marinated pork for four hours in three different types of beer (lager, non-alcoholic and a black beer), and non-marinated pork was also included for comparison purposes. The meat was then cooked to a well-done state on a charcoal grill. The results found that all of the beers reduced the levels of eight types of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), a chemical linked to cancer which forms when meat is cooked at very high temperatures, such as in a barbecue.
The black beer was found to be the most effective, cutting levels by more than half, according to the study. The non-alcoholic beer was the least effective but still reduced levels.
The team suggested the antioxidants in the beer could make the surface of the meat resistant to PAHs.
