Tag Archives: nutrition

Jun18

Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines … Oh My!

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I hope everyone had a nice Father’s Day!

I know I did!

* I enjoyed some nice family time paired with delicious pizza from Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria.

* I introduced my mom to their vegan “Asante” pizza, which she became absolutely obsessed with!

* And I made a very refreshing “fruit-infused-jasmine-green-sun-tea-cooler” with my dad. A recipe I will share with you all tomorrow!!

But as promised, today, I will be sharing my knowledge on the toxicity of …

Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines (HAs)

Brace yourselves… this is a long one!

As I mentioned before, HAs are toxins (potent mutagens) generated in muscle (not organ) meats when cooked at normal “home-cooking” temperatures. What I mean by “home-cooking” temperatures, is that HA exposure is most prevalent in home cooked meats. On average we intake about 26 ng/kg body weight/day … which is a lot considering that 17 different HAs may pose a human cancer risk.

There are four main factors that influence HA formation.

1. Cooking Temperature

2. Cooking Time

3. Cooking Method

4. The Food Being Cooked

The food toxicology lecture slide below displays how different cooking temperatures and cooking times can make a great difference in the formation of HAs.

Furthermore, as you can see by the other food toxicology lecture slide (below) cooking methods also make a difference in the formation of HAs.

Frying, broiling, and barbequeing produce that largest amounts of HAs (see the food toxicology lecture slide below).

There are also two types of HAs.

1. 2-Aminoimidazole type (IQ-Type)– formed in muscle meat when amino acids react with creatine (a protein found in muscle meats) at high temperatures.

2. 2-Aminopryridine type (Non-IQ-Type)– formed from the decomposition of protein at high temperatures.

Long story short, the IQ-Types seem to be more carcinogenic because California Prop 65 lists IQ, MeIQ, MeIQx, and PhIP (all IQ-Type HAs) as carcinogens.

Hang in there, I’m almost done with all this science talk …

Toxicity

HAs are mutagenic. They tend to be potent liver carcinogens in rats and mice and are thought to be responsible for a great deal of the intestinal cancer in humans.

HAs are activated in our bodies by cytochrome P450 enzymes and are detoxified by our glucuronoyltrasferase and sulfotransferase enzymes.

And thankfully, we have these detoxifying enzymes to help us metabolize daily dietary toxins! But remember, MODERATION and COMBINATION is key! Moderate your intake of these dietary toxins and combine them with antioxidant rich fruit to help induce your detox enzymes!

And lastly, just as a recap from my previous post, if you microwave your meat for 2 minutes, before cooking, you can remove HA precursors and sequentially get rid of 90% of HA content.

Have a great day!!! And happy summer!!!!

Stay tuned for the delicious and refreshing jasmine-green-sun-tea recipe!!!
Jun5

Great News! Disney Ditches Junk Food Ads!

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I’m super excited to share that …


The Walt Disney Company has become the very first major media company to ban all junk-food ads on their programming that targets children by 2015! This means that they will be banning all ads for fast food, sugar cereals, high calorie snacks, or any food that doesn’t meet Federal nutrition standards for fat, sugar, and sodium, from their television, radio airwaves, and websites intended for kids.

click image for source

This includes Oscar Mayer Lunchables meat-and-cracker snacks (high in sodium) and Capri Sun (too much sugar), any cereal with more than 10 grams of sugar per serving, and any full meal over 600 calories.

Disney also introduced the “Mickey Check” seal of approval for nutritious foods sold in stores, online, and in Disney parks and resorts.

This is an amazing step in defeating America’s Obesity Epidemic!!!!!

“Our kids are constantly bombarded with sophisticated messages designed to sell them foods that simply aren’t good for them,” Michelle Obama said. “And let me tell you, we know it works, right?”

“With this new initiative, Disney is doing what no major media company has ever done before in the U.S. — and what I hope every company will do going forward,” The First Lady said.

click image for source

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May30

Step Away from the Cheap, Dented Can!!!

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Recently, I received a request to write a toxicological post about canned fruit and its nutritional value. Unfortunately, I have not yet learned much about canned foods, but I do know one interesting toxic fact …

To Be Safe, Do Not Buy or Eat Contents From Dented Cans!

Here’s why …

Dented cans can provide residency for Colstridium botulinum, a bacteria that produces a toxin known as botulism. Although boltulism is rare, it is best to AVOID food containers that are leaking, bulging, badly dented, cracked, have loose or bulging lids, or have a foul odor. Even a small amount of botulinum toxin can be deadly!!!!!

So, pay attention! If you’re the type of person who shops in the 50%/”half off” section at grocery stores (introduced to me by my economist for a boyfriend), then check your cans often, that’s usually where you will find the dented ones. Once again, I DO NOT recommend buying these dented cans just because they are CHEAP–there is a reason they are so cheap and that reason is potentially unsafe.

On the positive side, as long as the can is in good shape, the food contents should be safe! But, canned food taste, texture, and nutritional value can decrease over time. So as a general guideline, be sure to store canned foods and other “shelf” products in a cool, dry place. Furthermore, if the can is in good shape, high acid foods such as tomatoes and other fruit should only be stored up to 18 months, while low acid foods such as meats and veggies can be stored 2 to 5 years.

However, if the can is NOT in good shape, please DISCARD! Botulism is more likely to grow in low acidic environments like canned peas, corn, green beans, and beets, but only if the can is deeply dented, leaking, bulging, cracked, etc.

click on the images for their sources

For more information please visit the USDA website @ http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Shelf_Stable_Food_Safety/index.asp

May25

When Life Gives You Lemons …

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Toxic Food Fact of the Day

Let’s talk about a food additive that prevents the wastage of food…

Antioxidants

I’ve talked about antioxidants before in “An Antioxidant a Day, Keeps the Free Radical Away” but now I’m taking a different approach.

I’m going to talk about using antioxidants, natural and synthetic, to prevent the oxidation of food. Our bodies use antioxidants to prevent oxidative stress, similarly, we add antioxidants to food to do the same thing.

Read on young grasshoppers…

Natural Antioxidants:

Fruits and veggies produce antioxidants (carotenoids, polyphenolic, ascorbic acid or vitamin C, and vitamin A) to prevent oxidation. But once the fruit or veggie is not living anymore it will stop producing antioxidants and will be vulnerable to oxidation. Unfortunately, oxidation can decrease the nutritional value of the food by degrading essential fatty acids and vitamins.

Think about it…

You’ve seen oxidation occur … It’s the browning effect! For example, when you cut an apple and let it sit, what happens??? The apple turns brown.

So, what’s the trick…. LEMON JUICE! Lemon juice can prevent the browning of cut apples, thanks to the antioxidant action of vitamin C in the lemon juice. 

click image for source

Synthetic Antioxidants:

Synthetic antioxidants are used for the same reason as natural antioxidants. They are added to food products in order to protect food against oxidative deterioration of vitamins and essential fatty acids, delay and detain unwanted and unusual odors, extend self-life, and lastly, hinder the production of toxic by-products.

Synthetic antioxidants include:

Butylated Hydroxyanisole (BHA), Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT), Propyl Gallate (PG), and Tert-Butylated HydroxyQuinone (TBHQ).

Last thoughts: I hear apples taste even better with a little lemon… maybe you should try it… especially those folks who eat an apple a day to keep the doctor away … give your apple a little spunk … When life gives you lemons, squirt some on your cut apples … that means you gramps!

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May5

Large Fries with a side of Acrylamide

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Last Friday night, I went to a San Francisco Giants game with my family and sorority… unfortunately, they lost!

But luckily I was able to enjoy a nice and delicious ball park meal, which consisted of a veggie burger, garlic fries, and an extra large diet coke. Don’t worry I shared the coke… well some of it anyway!

However, when I was munching on my fries all I could think about was … acrylamide!

Acrylamide is a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm (listed on the Prop 65 chemical list).

Acrylamide comes from the “browning” process of starchy carbohydrates and forms when these carbs are heated; such as, baking bread or frying potatoes. Acrylamide can be found in the highest concentrations when overcooked or fried; more specifically, in french fries and fried potato chips.

Surprisingly, an uncooked french fry has NO acrylamide at all … however, a french fry cooked for 15 minutes has acrylamide levels of 11 parts per billion (ppb), 30 minutes has levels of 1326 ppb, and 45 minutes has levels of 4885 ppb. So, basically, STAY AWAY from the brown, burnt french fries!!!

 

The browner the fry the worse it is!!!

Potatoes have yet another toxic chemical known as solanine! We have fortunately bred potatoes to have very low solanine levels; however, beware of the green parts of potatoes… In other words, DO NOT EAT THE GREEN!!! Instead, cut off the green parts and cook the rest of the potato! Solanine is not degraded by cooking and is known as a cholinesterase inhibitor! Toxicity of this chemical could cause tremors, convulsions, paralysis, and ultimately a coma.

So what I’m trying to say is… do not eat brown or green potatoes! That’s all the toxic advice I have for today! Until next time …