title: Importance of oil degradation components in the formation of acrylamide in fried foodstuffs.
abstract: This study investigates the importance of selected oil degradation components and some analogues in the formation of acrylamide. For this, a model system containing silica gel, PBS buffer, and oil was heated in a closed tubular reactor, under practically relevant heating conditions. Several probable acrylamide precursors were mixed together with free asparagine in the model system, such as partial glycerides, glycerol, acrolein, acrylic acid, and several aldehydes. Only the heated model system containing acrolein and asparagine showed a significantly higher acrylamide content compared to the control to which only asparagine was added. It was postulated that a nucleophilic 1,2-addition of the alpha-amino group of free asparagine to the carbonyl function of acrolein would lead to the formation of acrylamide. This hypothesis could partially be confirmed, replacing acrolein with other alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes. However, the contribution of acrolein to the overall formation of acrylamide appeared to be negligible in the presence of a reducing sugar, indicating that in foodstuffs the importance of acrolein and other oil degradation products is probably small.
authors.affiliation: Research Group Food Chemistry and Human Nutrition, Department of Food Safety and Food Quality, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mestdagh
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Castelein
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Van Peteghem
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: De Meulenaer
mesh_terms: D000171:Acrolein / Q000737:chemistry; D020106:Acrylamide / Q000032:analysis / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D001216:Asparagine / Q000737:chemistry; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000737:chemistry; D005502:Food; D005511:Food Handling; D006358:Hot Temperature; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D010938:Plant Oils; D020106:Acrylamide; D001216:Asparagine; D000171:Acrolein