If you enjoy grilling meats, a new study may give you pause before you put that pork chop or steak on the flames. A study presented at an American Heart Association conference claims that grilled or well-done beef, chicken, or fish may raise the risk of high blood pressure in people who eat these foods on a regular basis.

Researchers based their findings on a huge study involving tens of thousands of people who took part inf the Nurses’ Health Study. The participants gave detailed cooking information for the long-term studies, and none of the participants had high blood pressure or other complications.

Scientists found that those who ate grilled meats regularly had a 17 percent higher risk of getting high blood pressure. Additionally, those who ate their food well done had a 15 percent higher risk.

“The chemicals produced by cooking meats at high temperatures induce oxidative stress, inflammation and insulin resistance in animal studies, and these pathways may also lead to an elevated risk of developing high blood pressure,” said Gang Liu, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a postdoctoral research fellow in the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.