Narrator: This is Science Today. It's been long established that well-done meat contains carcinogenic compounds called heterocyclic amines. Fairly recently, researchers discovered that pre-cooking meat in a microwave cut down on these compounds. Now biomedical scientist Mark Knize, of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, says a simple flip of the wrist can also reduce these compounds.

Knize: We recently found that if you flip the meat frequently during cooking, that also makes a big reduction in the amount of the heterocyclic amine carcinogens that are produced. I think you have to go with whatever fits your food preparation methods or your lifestyle. If you're cooking in a frying pan, just flipping seems to do the same thing as the microwave precooking.

Narrator: Knize and his colleagues are working to solve what really causes cancer in people and are these amine carcinogens involved?

Knize: We're studying from several angles - the cooking is one small part of it, but the biological effects are also being investigated.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.