Like well-browned meats themselves, meat stocks and sauces whose flavor comes from browned pan juices or from long reduction carry small quantities of chemicals called heterocyclic amines. HCAs are known to damage DNA and therefore may con-tain chemicals that prevent HCAs from damaging DNA, so it may be that other foods in a well-balanced diet protect us from the toxic effects of HCAs. tribute to the development of cancer (p. 124). We don’t yet know whether the levels found in meats and sauces pose a significant risk. Vegetables in the cabbage family con