EFFECT OF COOKED MEAT ON MICRONUCLEUS FREQUENCY

The possibility that inclusion of cooked meat in the diet could elevat e chromosome damage risk was investigated in mice fed either a cereal diet only or a cereal diet supplemented with mutton cooked by microwav ing, pan-frying or charcoal-barbecueing. The meat was provided as a su pplement to the standard cereal-based diet on an approximately one-to- one basis. Chromosome damage indices included the cytokinesis-block mi cronucleus assay in spleen lymphocytes, the bone marrow micronucleus a ssay in erythrocytes and two versions of the colonic micronucleus assa y. These indices were assessed after 3 or 6 months of feeding, and und er each circumstance no increment in the micronucleus frequency in any of the tissues could be detected in the groups fed cooked meat when c ompared with each other or with the group fed the cereal diet only. Th ere was also no correlation between the micronucleus index in lymphocy tes and body weight. These data suggest that, over the time-frame stud ied, inclusion of meat in the diet and the extent to which meat is coo ked are unlikely to be important variables affecting the micronucleus index.