EpiX Analytics has authored two papers in the journal
Food and Chemical Toxicology
which demonstrate a novel approach to quantifying our dietary intake of certain compounds when we eat meat. These compound groups, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (or PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs), are important to study because they may contribute to risks for certain cancers.
According to
Dr. Jane Pouzou
, the lead author of the articles, “These studies show the uncertainty around what we know about our dietary intake of these compounds even when we combine many different studies of concentrations. Because of this uncertainty, differences between consumers’ exposures may not be as large as some studies suggest. We also found that, where differences in exposure are present, the greatest driver is the way that foods are cooked, more than the type of food itself. This finding may be important for consumers hoping to reduce their exposures to these compound groups from their diet.”
Our way of analyzing these exposures improved on other studies by looking at a bigger picture of meat consumption and better quantifying how much we do and don’t know about the levels of PAH and HCA in our foods. The papers are freely available to read
here
and
here
.
