The modern state of the problem potential mutagenic and carcinogenic activity of food products

Abstract

The last few decades have been characterized by increased attention on the part of scientists, international organizations and the public to the problem of reducing adverse external influences on the human body and timely detection and prevention of various diseases. Food — one of the main channels of interaction between the body and the environment-can be a source of a large number of potentially dangerous chemical and biological substances for human health. The harmful effects of foreign substances that enter the human body with food are characterized by a significant variety: from damage to individual organs, general toxic effects, to the occurrence of mutagenic and carcinogenic effects, acceleration of aging processes and violations of reproductive functions. Therefore, among the many problems of environmental protection around the world, the issues of cleanliness and quality of food products are singled out as the main areas that determine the health of the population. The analysis of the current state of the problem of contamination of food raw materials and food products with chemical contaminants, which are potential mutagens and/or carcinogens, is carried out. Much attention is paid to such genotoxicants as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, N-nitrosamines, heterocyclic amines, acrylamide and some heavy metals that have different routes of entry and formation in food raw materials, food products, the human body and animals. Determining the potential genotoxicity and carcinogenicity of food chemical contaminants is not an easy task due to the fact that food is a complex mixture of compounds that have both mutagenic and antimutagenic effects. The obvious difficulty in studying the problem of chemical contamination of food products follows from numerous contradictory studies of the genotoxicity and carcinogenicity of food components.