Using a dynamic artificial digestive system to investigate heme iron nitrosylation during gastro-intestinal transit.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer recently classified cured meats as carcinogenic for humans and red meats as probably carcinogenic. Mutagens can be formed during meat process or digestion. In a previous study, we used a dynamic artificial digestive system (DIDGI®) to investigate protein oxidation and N-nitrosation during bovine meat digestion. This new paper completes the previous one by focusing on the endogenous heme iron nitrosylation. Low nitrosylation due to nitrate initially present in meat and to ammonia oxidation in the stomach was observed in the digestive tract even in conditions in which no nitrite was added to the model. The endogenous addition of nitrite (1 mM) considerably increased heme iron nitrosylation while a significant decrease was observed with prior meat cooking (30 min at 60 and 90 °C).