NITRO-POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON CONTENTS OF FUMES FROM HEATED COOKING OILS AND PREVENTION OF MUTAGENICITY BY CATECHIN

According to earlier studies, fumes from cooking oils were found to be mutagenic and several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), (benzo (a)pyrene (B(a)P), benz(a)antracene (B(a)A), and dibenz(a, h)anthracen e (DB(ah)A)) were identified. Fume samples from three different commer cial cooking oils frequently used in Taiwan were collected and nitro-p olycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs) were extracted from the sample s and identified by HPLC chromatography. Extracts from three cooking o il fumes contained I-nitropyrene (1-NP) and 1,3-dinitropyrene (1,3-DNP ). Concentrations of 1-NP and 1,3-DNP were 1.1 +/- 0.1 and 0.9 +/- 0.1 mu g/m(3) in fumes from lard oil, 2.9 +/- 0.3 and 3.4 +/- 0.2 mu g/m( 3) in soybean oil, 1.5 +/- 0.1 and 0.4 +/- 0.1 mu g/m(3) in peanut oil , respectively. The preventive effect of three natural antioxidants (g amma-tocopherol (TOC), lecithin (LEC), and catechin (CAT)) for the red uction of mutagenicity and amounts of PAHs and NPAHs of fumes from coo king oils were evaluated. Mutagenicity of cooking oil fumes occurred, and the concentration of B(a)P were significantly reduced (p < 0.05), by adding CAT into cooking oils before heating. B(a)A, DB(nh)A, and tw o NPAHs were not detected when the concentration of CAT was 500 ppm in all three cooking oil fumes. These results indicate that fumes of coo king oils contained PAHs and NPAHs that may be a risk factor for lung cancer among cooks and the carcinogens could be reduced by adding the natural antioxidant, catechin. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.