Acrylamide is a product formed when high carbohydrate foods are baked or fried at high temperatures. Acrylamides are high in potato snack products. Acrylamide polymer is nontoxic. Acrylamide monomer is an industrial toxin, is dangerous to the nervous system of vertebrates and causes mutations and carcinogenesis.
By testing the enzyme genes of a nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans,) for genes which are increased by acrylamide, a gene can be constructed in C. elegans to detect acrylamides. Such a live “biosensor” exposed to acrylamide becomes ill and may die. When a nematode biosensor is exposed to acrylamide and green tea powder (Matcha) at the same time, toxicity levels were reduced and the nematodes stay well. This suggests that acrylamide levels are detoxified by Matcha tea. This testing can be used for evaluation of common foods for different types of toxicity.
Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are enzymes found in all organisms from bacteria to humans. They bind glutathione (GSH,) a tripeptide, to foreign substances to enable their removal from cells. GSTs are increased in nematodes exposed to acrylamide. When green tea powder is added to the solution, GST increase is not detected and the nematodes remain healthy, indicating that Matcha detoxifies acrylamide. The catechins of green tea are known to be protective against cancers of lung, prostate and breast.
The present method can be used to evaluate for a large number of different toxicities and can be used to screen for common foods which can reduce these toxicities.
CONCLUSION: Acrylamide is a toxic product found in foods. Biosensor technology, using nematodes, was used to detect acrylamide levels and can be used to detect all sorts of toxic substances and to detect which substances reduce that toxicity. The study demonstrated that Matcha powdered green tea powder can be used to reduce the toxicity of acrylamides.
NOTE: Read more about acrylamide in the U.S. population.
To read the author’s abstract of the article click on the link to the author’s title of the article above.
PMID: 18023302.
Summary #335.
