Götz Mario E, Sachse Benjamin, Schäfer Bernd, Eisenreich Andreas
Department of Food Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Max-Dohrn-Str. 8-10, 10589 Berlin, Germany.
Foods. 2022 Jul 5;11(13):1988. doi: 10.3390/foods11131988.
Alkenylbenzenes represent a group of naturally occurring substances that are synthesized as secondary metabolites in various plants, including nutmeg and basil. Many of the alkenylbenzene-containing plants are common spice plants and preparations thereof are used for flavoring purposes. However, many alkenylbenzenes are known toxicants. For example, safrole and methyleugenol were classified as genotoxic carcinogens based on extensive toxicological evidence. In contrast, reliable toxicological data, in particular regarding genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and reproductive toxicity is missing for several other structurally closely related alkenylbenzenes, such as myristicin and elemicin. Moreover, existing data on the occurrence of these substances in various foods suffer from several limitations. Together, the existing data gaps regarding exposure and toxicity cause difficulty in evaluating health risks for humans. This review gives an overview on available occurrence data of myristicin, elemicin, and other selected alkenylbenzenes in certain foods. Moreover, the current knowledge on the toxicity of myristicin and elemicin in comparison to their structurally related and well-characterized derivatives safrole and methyleugenol, especially with respect to their genotoxic and carcinogenic potential, is discussed. Finally, this article focuses on existing data gaps regarding exposure and toxicity currently impeding the evaluation of adverse health effects potentially caused by myristicin and elemicin.
烯基苯是一类天然存在的物质，在包括肉豆蔻和罗勒在内的各种植物中作为次生代谢产物合成。许多含烯基苯的植物是常见的香料植物，其制品用于调味目的。然而，许多烯基苯是已知的有毒物质。例如，基于大量毒理学证据，黄樟素和甲基丁香酚被归类为基因毒性致癌物。相比之下，其他几种结构密切相关的烯基苯，如肉豆蔻醚和榄香素，缺乏可靠的毒理学数据，特别是关于基因毒性、致癌性和生殖毒性的数据。此外，关于这些物质在各种食物中的存在情况的现有数据存在若干局限性。总之，关于暴露和毒性的现有数据空白导致难以评估对人类的健康风险。本综述概述了肉豆蔻醚、榄香素和其他选定烯基苯在某些食物中的现有存在数据。此外，还讨论了与结构相关且特征明确的衍生物黄樟素和甲基丁香酚相比，肉豆蔻醚和榄香素目前的毒性知识，特别是关于它们的基因毒性和致癌潜力。最后，本文重点关注目前阻碍评估肉豆蔻醚和榄香素可能造成的不良健康影响的暴露和毒性方面的现有数据空白。
