Marinating a steak before grilling not only improves its flavour and tenderness but also decreases the production of carcinogenic compounds. The latest evidence for this comes from Mark G Knize, scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA, as part of a study financed by the National Cancer Institute. Marinating chicken even less than an hour before grilling substantially decreases the production of heterocyclic amines, cancer-causing agents that develop when fat from grilled meat drips on hot coals and then wafts upward. At the University of Hawaii Cancer Research Center, P Nerurkar and colleagues have shown that an Indian-style turmeric-garlic marinade on beef slowed down the production of carcinogens.