FORMATION OF MUTAGENS IN SUGAR-AMMONIA MODEL SYSTEMS

Epidemiologic studies have implicated high dietary fat and beef in the etiology of colon cancer. The mechanism whereby high dietary fat promotes these cancers has been partially elucidated, but the initiating agents have not been discovered. Previous work by this group and others has described the formation of mutagens during the cooking of meat by frying, broiling, or boiling. These strongly mutagenic substances may be the initiating agents, possibly resulting from reactions similar to those in browning. A model system for browning, the reaction between sugars and amines, has been developed in order to test this hypothesis. Reacting sugars with ammonium ion under reflux conditions results in the formation of strong mutagenic activity with the same, unusual strain specificity and the same kinetics of formation as that derived from cooked meat. These reactions, which produce many pyrazine derivatives, are base-catalyzed and can be inhibited by the antioxidant propyl gallate. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.