This review by the National Cancer Institute looks at the cancer risk of cooking meat at high temperatures, and ways to reduce exposure to the chemicals formed when meat is cooked.

Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemicals formed when muscle meat, including beef, pork, fish, or poultry, is cooked using high-temperature methods, such as pan frying or grilling directly over an open flame (1). In laboratory experiments, HCAs and PAHs have been found to be mutagenic—that is, they cause changes in DNA that may increase the risk of cancer.

Studies have shown that exposure to HCAs and PAHs can cause cancer in animal models (10). In many experiments, rodents fed a diet supplemented with HCAs developed tumors of the breast, colon, liver, skin, lung, prostate, and other organs (11–16). Rodents fed PAHs also developed cancers, including leukemia and tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and lungs (17). However, the doses of HCAs and PAHs used in these studies were very high—equivalent to thousands of times the doses that a person would consume in a normal diet.