(The Best Years in Life) For many of us, spring signals the start of grilling season. Unfortunately, grilling meat and cooking meat at high temperatures result in the formation of chemical compounds which may increase the risk of cancer. This year, if you find the urge to fire up the barbecue irresistible, addition of either of a couple of common food items can greatly reduce the formation such dangerous compounds: rosemary or tart cherries.

Chief among the cancer causing compounds produced by cooking meats are heterocyclic amines (HCAs), which are classified by the National Toxicology Program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as human carcinogens that increase the risk of cancer. Researchers at Kansas State University recently studied adding rosemary extract to ground beef. In addition to alcohol, the rosemary extracts contained a mixture of rosmarinic acid, carnosol, and carnosic acid. The researchers were not sure how or if the compounds worked but they found that adding the extracts reduced the HCA levels anywhere from 30 to 100 percent.