Unravelling effects of flavanols and their derivatives on acrylamide formation via support vector machine modelling

Epicatechin-Promoted Formation of Acrylamide from 3-Aminopropionamide Via Postoxidative Reaction of B-Ring

The role of thermally generated 3-aminopropionamide as an intermediate in acrylamide formation in the Maillard reaction has been well established. Herein, the effect of epicatechin on the conversion of 3-aminopropionamide into acrylamide under oxidative conditions was investigated at 160-220 °C. Epicatechin promoted acrylamide generation and 3-aminopropionamide degradation. The stable isotope-labeling technique combined with UHPLC-Orbitrap-MS/MS analysis showed adduct formation between 3-aminopropionamide and the oxidized B ring of epicatechin to form a Schiff base. This initially formed Schiff base could directly degrade to acrylamide, undergo reduction or dehydration to other intermediates, and subsequently generate acrylamide. Based on accurate mass analysis, five intermediates with intact or dehydrated C rings were tentatively identified. Furthermore, reaction pathways were proposed that were supported by the changes in the levels of adducts formed during heating. To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to reveal pathways through which flavanols promoted the formation of acrylamide in Maillard reactions.

Flavonoids mitigation of typical food thermal processing contaminants: Potential mechanisms and analytical strategies

Due to unique chemical structure, flavonoids are secondary metabolites with numerous biological activities. Thermal processing of food usually produces some chemical contaminants, which cause an adverse effect on food quality and nutrition. Therefore, it is vital to reduce these contaminants in food processing. In this study, current researches around the inhibitory effect of flavonoids on acrylamide, furans, α-dicarbonyl compounds and heterocyclic amines (HAs) were summarized. It has been shown that flavonoids inhibited the formation of these contaminants to varying degrees in chemical or food models. The mechanism was mainly associated with natural chemical structure and partly with antioxidant activity of flavonoids. Additionally, methods and tools of analyzing interactions between flavonoids and contaminants were discussed. In summary, this review demonstrated potential mechanisms and analytical strategies of flavonoids in food thermal processing, providing new insight of flavonoids applying on the food engineering.

UPLC-Q-TOF-MS and NMR identification of structurally different A-type procyanidins from peanut skin and their inhibitory effect on acrylamide

BACKGROUND

Flavan-3-ol polyphenols have been shown to have great advantages in inhibiting acrylamide formation. However, flavan-3-ol polyphenols have structures that vary significantly, and existing research has been focused mainly on the effects of B-type procyanidins and structural units of procyanidins. This study aims to separate structurally different A-type procyanidins from peanut skin and compare their inhibitory effects on acrylamide in an asparagine-glucose simulation system.

RESULTS

Five compounds were separated and identified from peanut skin, including epicatechin-(2β → O → 7, 4β → 8)-ent-epicatechin, epicatechin-(2β → O → 7, 4β → 8)-epicatechin, epicatechin-(2β → O → 7, 4β → 8)-epicatechin-(4β → 6)-catechin, epicatechin-(2β → O → 7, 4β → 8)-epicatechin-(4β → 8)-catechin, and epicatechin-(4β → 6)-epicatechin-(4β → 8, 2β → O → 7)-catechin. All the procyanidins could reduce the acrylamide content within a certain range of concentrations. The highest inhibition rates followed the order of compound 5 (A-type trimer) > compound 1 (A-type dimer) > compound 2 (A-type dimer) > compound 3 (A-type trimer) > compound 4 (A-type trimer). Comparison analysis showed that structurally different A-type procyanidins have various inhibitory effects on acrylamide production, which may be related to their spatial configuration and bond connection mode.

CONCLUSION

Overall, our findings help us to gain a better understanding of the relationship between the structure of procyanidins and their inhibitory effects on acrylamide, particularly the inhibitory effect of A-type. There are potential practical implications if people use A-type procyanidins as acrylamide inhibitors in hot processed foods in the future. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Machine learning prediction of dual and dose-response effects of flavone carbon and oxygen glycosides on acrylamide formation

Introduction

The extensive occurrence of acrylamide in heat processing foods has continuously raised a potential health risk for the public in the recent 20 years. Machine learning emerging as a robust computational tool has been highlighted for predicting the generation and control of processing contaminants.

Methods

We used the least squares support vector regression (LS-SVR) as a machine learning approach to investigate the effects of flavone carbon and oxygen glycosides on acrylamide formation under a low moisture condition. Acrylamide was prepared through oven heating via a potato-based model with equimolar doses of asparagine and reducing sugars.

Results

Both inhibition and promotion effects were observed when the addition levels of flavonoids ranged 1–10,000 μmol/L. The formation of acrylamide could be effectively mitigated (37.6%–55.7%) when each kind of flavone carbon or oxygen glycoside (100 μmol/L) was added. The correlations between acrylamide content and trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) within inhibitory range (R2 = 0.85) had an advantage over that within promotion range (R2 = 0.87) through multiple linear regression.

Discussion

Taking ΔTEAC as a variable, a LS-SVR model was optimized as a predictive tool to estimate acrylamide content (R2inhibition = 0.87 and R2promotion = 0.91), which is pertinent for predicting the formation and elimination of acrylamide in the presence of exogenous antioxidants including flavonoids.

Food polyphenols and Maillard reaction: regulation effect and chemical mechanism

Maillard reaction is a non-enzymatic thermal reaction during food processing and storage. It massively contributes to the flavor, color, health benefits and safety of foods and could be briefly segmented into initial, intermediate and final stages with the development of a cascade of chemical reactions. During thermal reaction of food ingredients, sugar, protein and amino acids are usually the main substrates, and polyphenols co-existed in food could also participate in the Maillard reaction as a modulator. Polyphenols including flavan-3-ols, hydroxycinnamic acids, flavonoids, and tannins have shown various effects throughout the process of Maillard reaction, including conjugating amino acids/sugars, trapping α-dicarbonyls, capturing Amadori rearrangement products (ARPs), as well as decreasing acrylamide and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) levels. These effects significantly influenced the flavor, taste and color of processed foods, and also decreased the hazard products' level. The chemical mechanism of polyphenols-Maillard products involved the scavenging of radicals, as well as nucleophilic addition and substitution reactions. In the present review, we concluded and discussed the interaction of polyphenols and Maillard reaction, and proposed some perspectives for future studies.

Catechins protect against acrylamide- and glycidamide-induced cellular toxicity via rescuing cellular apoptosis and DNA damage

Acrylamide (AA) occurs in both various environmental and dietary sources and has raised widespread concern as a probable carcinogen. Glycidamide (GA) is the main genotoxic metabolite through P450 2E1 (CYP2E1). In the present study, we investigate the protective effect of (-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and (-)-epicatechin (EC) against AA- and GA-induced hepatotoxicity in HepG2 cells. The results demonstrated that EC and EGCG inhibited AA- and GA-induced cytotoxicity and mitochondria-mediated cellular apoptosis. Moreover, exposure to AA (100 μg/mL) and GA (50 μg/mL) caused cell cycle arrest and DNA damage, while EC and EGCG ranging from 12.5 to 50 μg/mL rescued cell cycle arrest and inhibited DNA damage. Furthermore, EC and EGCG down-regulated pro-apoptotic protein Bax and Caspase 3 after 24 h treatment in HepG2 cells exposed to AA (100 μg/mL) or GA (50 μg/mL). Also, the intervention with EC or EGCG up-regulated DNA repair related protein PARP and down-regulated expression of cleaved-PARP. Besides, EC exerted better protective effect than EGCG against AA- and GA-induced cytotoxicity in HepG2 cells. Altogether, EC and EGCG were effective in protecting AA- and GA-induced hepatotoxicity via rescuing cellular apoptosis and DNA damage, as well as promoting cell cycle progression in HepG2 cells.

Data mining for pesticide decontamination using heterogeneous photocatalytic processes

Pesticides are chemical compounds used to kill pests and weeds. Due to their nature, pesticides are potentially toxic to many organisms, including humans. Among the various methods used to decontaminate pesticides from the environment, the heterogeneous photocatalytic process is one of the most effective approaches. This study focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) techniques used to generate optimum predictive models for pesticide decontamination processes using heterogeneous photocatalytic processes. In the present study, 537 valid cases from 45 articles from January 2000 to April 2020 were filtered based on their content collected and analyzed. Based on cross-industry standard process (CRISP) methodology, a set of four classifiers were applied: Decision Trees (DT), Bayesian Network (BN), Support Vector Machines (SVM), and Feed Forward Multilayer Perceptron Neural Networks (MLP). To compare the accuracy of the selected algorithms, accuracy, and sensitivity criteria were applied. After the final analysis, the DT classification algorithm with seven factors of prediction, the accuracy of 91.06%, and sensitivity of 80.32% was selected as the optimal predictor model.

Effect of buckwheat extracts on acrylamide formation and the quality of bread

BACKGROUND

The presence of acrylamide in food has attracted wide attention and has raised concerns due to its potential toxic and carcinogenic effects. The phenolic compounds in buckwheat display strong antioxidant activity, which may affect the acrylamide levels. The aims of this study were to evaluate the effect of buckwheat extracts on acrylamide formation and the quality of the bread, and to investigate possible inhibitory mechanisms.

RESULTS

The extracts from Tartary buckwheat seeds, Tartary buckwheat sprouts, common buckwheat seeds, and common buckwheat sprouts reduced acrylamide level in bread by 23.5, 27.3, 17.0, and 16.7%, respectively. In addition, all four buckwheat extracts significantly (P < 0.05) reduced acrylamide levels in the asparagine / glucose system. There were significant positive correlations between total phenolic compound content, the antioxidant activity of the extracts, and the reduction in the acrylamide level. Evaluation of the organoleptic and textural properties indicated that the addition of the extracts did not significantly affect the crust color, aroma, taste, crumb appearance, and hardness of the bread.

CONCLUSION

This study showed that proper use of buckwheat extracts can reduce acrylamide levels in bread without having a significant impact on their properties. The study also revealed that a possible acrylamide formation inhibitory mechanism involved the Maillard reaction through the asparagine / glucose pathway. The study also provided useful information for the further application of buckwheat in improving food safety. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.