The effect of green tea and olive oil on the mutagenic activity of heterocyclic amines extracted from common food consumed in Saudi Arabia

The effect of green tea (GT) and green tea with olive oil (GT + OL) as antioxidants on the formation and mutagenic activity of heterocyclic aromatic amines (HCAs) extracted from beef shawerma, grilled chicken and fried beef liver was examined. HCAs were extracted by blue rayon, analyzed as spiked and unspiked samples with high-performance liquid chromatography and its mutagenic response was assessed by Sallmonela typhimurium 100 in the Ames test. Surprisingly, GT and GT + OL augmented HCAs measured in beef shawerma and grilled chicken but total HCAs measured in GT + OL were less than GT treatment. Both treatments altered the HCA profile as imidazoquinoline type became the most abundant. In control and GT + OL fried beef liver no HCAs were detected, but Trp-P1 was detected in GT treatment. Generally, the mutagenic response of HCAs measured in GT + OL was less than GT in beef shawerma and grilled chicken. However, the mutagenic response of control and 2% GT + OL fried liver was negative. These data suggest that GT concentrations used in this study may induce free radical formation during the Millared reaction due to its pro-oxidative effect, which augmented the HCAs formed and its mutagenic response. In order to optimize both safety and quality of our diets, more need to be done to fully understand the risk of HCAs in food.