Cyanidin and rutin inhibit the formation of heterocyclic aromatic amines in chemical modeling systems and smoked chicken drumsticks.

This study aims to evaluate the heterocyclic aromatic amine (HAA) formation inhibited by cyanidin and rutin in chemical modeling systems and smoked chicken drumsticks. In the PhIP and β-carboline chemical modeling systems, cyanidin inhibited the PhIP, Harman, and Norharman formation while rutin inhibited the PhIP formation but promoted the Harman and Norharman formation compared with control sample (P < 0.05). A mechanistic investigation confirmed that inhibiting the PhIP formation by cyanidin was mainly through trapping phenylalanine, creatine, creatinine, glucose, phenylacetaldehyde, and an aldol condensation product. In the smoked chicken drumsticks, cyanidin inhibited the PhIP, Harman, and Norharman formation dose-dependently compared to the control sample (P < 0.05), with 2.0 % (w/v) cyanidin having the highest inhibitory effect. Moreover, cyanidin inhibited the formation of PhIP precursors and intermediates in the smoked chicken drumsticks. These results provide evidence for using phenolic compounds to reduce HAA formation in smoked meat products.