Aromatic amines

The aromatic amines can be formed in the acidic environment of the stomach following an incorrect cooking of foods. The methods of cooking incriminated are the grilled methods.

In fact, roasted cooking and grilled cooking lead to the formation of aromatic amines, which due to the metabolic actions at the cytochrome P450 level give rise to a toxic but carcinogenic metabolite.

The metabolization of aromatic amines occurs mainly with the introduction of -OH groups and with conjugation reactions by the introduction of acetyl groups. The succession of these reactions gives rise as a final effect to an electrophilic radical (a nitroione), which goes to bind to DNA. It is an organospecific carcinogen, because it acts mainly at the level of the bladder with the possibility of developing bladder tumors.

From this example we can deduce that even the cooking system of certain foods is very important, as it can develop toxic and often carcinogenic metabolites for our body.