Abstract :
[en] Roasted meat products are highly appreciated for their characteristic flavor and sensory attributes; however, high-temperature processing simultaneously promotes the formation of harmful Maillard reaction products, particularly advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and heterocyclic amines (HAs). Although these two classes of hazards share common precursors, reactive carbonyl intermediates, and overlapping thermal reaction pathways, their concomitant formation and coordinated regulation within an integrated reaction network remain poorly understood. In particular, current studies largely focus on individual hazard or isolated reaction pathways, limiting the development of integrated mitigation strategies for multiple hazards.
Using roasted beef steak as a model system, this study systematically investigated the concomitant formation mechanisms of AGEs and HAs during thermal processing and elucidated the coordinated inhibitory mechanisms of plant polyphenols, particularly epicatechin (EC), within complex thermal reaction networks. A simultaneous UPLC-MS/MS analytical platform was established and validated for the rapid and sensitive quantification of representative AGEs and HAs, providing a reliable basis for subsequent mechanistic investigations. Integrated experimental and computational approaches were employed to investigate precursor evolution, reaction kinetics, carbonyl flux partitioning, and protein structural modulation during roasting.
This study proposes, for the first time, a “carbonyl bifurcation mechanism” describing the dynamic partitioning of reactive carbonyl intermediates into competing pathways leading to AGEs and HAs formation. This bifurcation process was governed by the interplay between kinetic competition and thermodynamic preference within the thermal reaction network, in which reactive carbonyl intermediates may be preferentially diverted toward AGEs formation, thereby influencing the subsequent carbonyl availability for HAs generation. Furthermore, different plant polyphenols exhibited structure-dependent inhibitory effects against AGEs and HAs, highlighting the critical role of hydroxylation pattern, conjugation degree, and molecular configuration in determining inhibitory activity. EC exhibited the most pronounced overall inhibitory effect among all tested polyphenols. Mechanistic analyses demonstrated that EC inhibited AGEs and HAs formation through coordinated multi-level regulation involving precursor competition, protein structural modulation, reactive carbonyl trapping, and radical scavenging, thereby simultaneously interfering with multiple critical reaction nodes within the Maillard reaction network.
Overall, this study establishes an integrated mechanistic framework for understanding the concomitant formation and coordinated inhibition of AGEs and HAs in thermally processed meat products. These findings provide theoretical support for the development of natural polyphenol-based, clean-label strategies targeting the simultaneous mitigation of multiple hazards during thermal processing.
