Blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry extracts reduce the formation of carcinogenic heterocyclic amines in fried camel, beef and chicken meats

Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are toxic products from the Maillard reaction that form from the reaction of sugars, amino acids and creatine/creatinine when cooking protein rich food. In this work, commonly consumed meats in Saudi Arabia (camel, beef and chicken) were fried under conditions resembling home cooking. The effect of marinades made of blueberry, raspberry and strawberry were tested separately on meat at different marinating times (1, 6, 12, 24h, at 4 degrees C) before frying. The marinades caused an overall reduction of HCAs. The decrease was more noticeable with long marination time >= 6h. The reduction of individual HCAs, after 24h marinades, was 91-100% for pyridines; 40-67% for beta-carbolines; and 100% for quinoxalines, quinolines, alpha-carbolines and gamma-carbolines, although the latter three were seldomly detected in this study. An increase, up to 2 times, on the formation of the studied quinoxalines was observed in every meat and marination for no more than 1h. Therefore, longer marinating times with berry extracts, from 6h, are recommended over those below (1h).

Automated summary

This study demonstrates that berry marinades can reduce the formation of harmful heterocyclic amines in meat during cooking. The reduction of HCAs is associated with marinade time, with longer marinating times (6 hours and above) showing more significant effects. Additionally, marinating for less than 1 hour can lead to an increase in certain HCAs.