Elixir

Steaks sizzling on the grill are as much a part of summer as shorts and sandals. But health experts caution the iconic grill fare could increase your risk of cancer.

Diets high in red meat, including beef, pork, lamb and processed meats such as hot dogs, bacon and ham, are linked to colon cancer, says a recent report from the American Institute for Cancer Research, Washington, D.C. This doesn’t mean you have to give up grilling if you “think outside the beef,” says David Joachim, a nutrition writer and cookbook author in the Philadelphia area.

Instead of a meat-centric menu, put the emphasis on vegetables, fruits and whole-grain breads. You’ll be delighted to discover those “healthful” ingredients you shunned for steak have robust tempting flavors when grilled.

“A pizza on the grill with a higher proportion of vegetables and less meat is fabulous,”says Joachim, co-author with Andrew Schloss, of “Mastering the Grill” (Chronicle Books, 2007).

Vegetables, which are often relegated to second-class status, become a first-rate dish when grilled. Grilling browns vegetables and brings out the sugars. “It’s a revelation; it’s delicious,” Joachim says.

His favorites include cauliflower and potatoes, which he prepares as grilled potato chips. It’s as simple as slicing a Russet potato paper thin, brushing with a little canola oil and grilling on a grill screen until golden.

Grilled sandwiches are more than an afterthought as well. Provide tortillas, Italian bread and focaccia along with grilled vegetables, condiments and cheeses and let everyone assemble a sandwich.

If meat is still on the menu there are steps you can take to lessen the risks. For red meats, select leaner cuts. Shorten grilling time by partially pre-cooking meat in a microwave oven (immediately move the food to the grill to finish cooking). You can also marinate meat, which limits the formation of harmful substances.

With a stroke of his pen, President Barack Obama granted the Food and Drug Administration regulatory control over tobacco on June 22. His signature may snuff out the multi-billion dollar tobacco industry by 2047, according to two national tobacco experts.

Michael Fiore and Timothy Baker, director and assistant director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, Madison, Wisc., published “Stealing a March in the 21st Century: Accelerating Progress in the 100-Year War Against Tobacco Addiction in the United States” in the July issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Their report analyzes data from the 1960s to today to chart milestones in the war against tobacco while presenting a battle plan to eradicate its use.

“Numerous observers have claimed over time that tobacco use has plateaued and progress against its use has stalled,” Fiore and Baker write. “However, the remarkable decline in rates of tobacco use since the 1960s belies this claim and underscores the remarkable success of tobacco control efforts to date.” Tobacco use has not dropped every year since 1965, but the overall rate of adults smoking has declined from 42 percent to 20 percent between then and 2007, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta.

The authors claim that the descent in smoking is a result of stricter public smoking laws, increased economic benefits to not smoking, more successful quitting tools and widespread dissemination of the destructive qualities of tobacco.

Fiore and Baker’s report calls for more. They ask for higher excise taxes on tobacco on both state and federal levels, a blanket ban on tobacco advertising and emphasis on preventing those younger than 17 from starting smoking. Research shows that nonsmoking by that age suppresses a strong genetic impulse that leads to addiction.

One of their biggest dreams became reality with President Obama’s support. The new law, among other things, bans the terms “mild” and “light” from tobacco marketing campaigns and further restricts marketing of tobacco products to kids. Fiore and Baker believe the law is another step in the inevitable, a tobacco-free America within the youngest generations’ lifetimes.