Dietary vitamin E effects on the formation of heterocyclic amines in grilled lean beef

•Increasing dietary vitamin E increased the tissue vitamin E level in beef.•Low levels of heterocyclic amines were found in grilled lean beef.•Tissue vitamin E levels did not significantly decrease heterocyclic amine formation.•A trend was observed for reduced mutagenicity with increasing α-tocopherol content.

The effects of tissue antioxidant levels on formation of heterocyclic amines (HAs) and their mutagenicity in grilled lean beef were studied. Meat from 54 feedlot steers fed different levels of vitamin E (340, 690, 1040 and 1740 IU/animal/day) for 120-days was used to provide beef with different levels of antioxidants (α-tocopherol). Prevalent HAs were then analyzed by HPLC using UV/Fluorescence detection. Five major HAs were found: 2-amino-3,8-dimethyl-imidazo(4,5-F)Quinoxaline (MeIQx), 2-amino-3,4,7,8-tetramethyl-imidazo(4,5-F)Quinoxaline (TriMeIQx), ß-Carboline-9H-Pyrido[3,4-b]indole (Norharmane), 1-Methyl-9H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole (Harmane) and 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidaza(4,5-B)pyridine (PhIP). Total content of HAs in grilled lean beef ranged from 9.57 ng/g to 11.59 ng/g. There was, however, a trend (P = 0.097) found for reduced mutagenicity with increasing tissue levels of α-tocopherol. The increasing dietary vitamin E significantly increased the α-tocopherol level in lean beef (P < 0.001), but it had no significant (P > 0.05) inhibitory effects on the content of individual and total HAs.