Umu test applied for screening natural antimutagenic agents

Antimutagenic activities of pure commercial chemicals and food supplements were compared with that of herb extracts using a method based on the umu test system for screening natural antimutagens. Of the 55 products investigated, 22 were commercial products, 12 were food supplements and 21 were aqueous and ethylic herb infusions. All commercial products showed antimtagenic properties. BHT was shown to be a very strong antimutagen. All food supplements showed medium or neutral antimutagenic properties, except for echinaforce and coenzyme-Q10 which behaved as mutagenic products. All herbs showed antimutagenic properties except Italian parsley that had mutagenic activity. With regard to the metabolites, those from commercial products showed antimutagenic properties, except those from BHA and especially Biochanin A that showed high mutagenic activity. All metabolites from food supplements showed antimutagenic properties, except those from Fluxarola that showed antimutagenic properties. Metabolites from most herb extracts showed antimtagenic properties and those from thyme showed very strong antimutagenic activities, while those from camomile, rosemary and tarragon showed mutagenic activities, and those from celeriac and sage showed very strong mutagenic activities.