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UC Toxics News: Summer 2007
"When we cook our food, we're making a lot of these chemicals we are worried about," said Jim Felton, a molecular biologist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and TSR&TP Executive Committee member. Felton presented his research on carcinogens in cooked food for the last talk of the 2007 Symposium. The heterocyclic amines are extremely potent mutagens. Meat eaters ingest some of these every day. The question is, what is the risk? Felton and his research group have been studying the carcinogenicity of these compounds, specifically PhiP (2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo [4,5-b]pyridine) in cooked food for the past 30 years.
The research has shown that cooking methods and time make a big difference in the amount of carcinogens produced. Microwaving the meat for 2 minutes before further cooking reduces the heterocyclic amines dramatically because they drain off in the juice. "If you keep the internal temperature of the meat down to 160 (degrees Fahrenheit) and take your time cooking, you will almost eliminate these compounds from your food," explained Felton. Flipping burgers every minute also cools them down. "The nervous cook wins. Keep the temperature down!" Felton's group also looked at the impact of other foods in the digestive system on the amount of PhiP that is absorbed. They developed a model to mimic the digestive system and discovered that adding high fiber foods like beans and prunes absorbed these compounds in the model. The group did another study with human subjects eating nothing but chicken, and then eating chicken and pasta. They found the PHiP greatly reduced with subjects who ate chicken and pasta together. Eating vegetables also helps. There are quite a few flavenoids in vegetables that can reduce the mutagenicity of the compounds in meat. Felton finished by saying "The main thing is to keep the temperature down in your cooking. Eat a lot of other things with your meat, especially fiber." |
