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This short research project aims to add to existing information on the reported anticancer effects of eating cruciferous vegetables using samples collected as part for a previous FSA project.
<p>The current project seeks to use these techniques to carry out additional urine analyses on archived urine samples collected as part of the dietary intervention trial carried out as part of the earlier project (T01009).
<p>Urine samples will be analysed using flow injection 1H NMR spectroscopy coupled to computer based pattern recognition.
<p>This should identify biomarkers that can be correlated with the consumption of well cooked meat together with cruciferous vegetables.
<p>Ultimately these data should make it possible to identify metabolic pathways modified by cruciferous vegetable intervention.
There is a strong association between diet and cancer and notably with the consumption of well cooked red meat.
<p>Cooking of red meat or fish at high temperatures leads to the formation of heterocyclic amines, which have been found to cause cancer in laboratory animals.
<p>The most abundant of these compounds is 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP). Studies have shown that PhIP needs activation by metabolism before it exerts its harmful effects.
<p>Cruciferous vegetables (such as Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli) are reported to protect against cancer by modifying the metabolism of carcinogens such as PhIP.
<p>Project T01009:Can cruciferous vegetables alter the genotoxicity of heterocyclic amines following human consumption of cooked meat?, set out to test this assumption.
<p>This was done by looking for PhIP metabolites found in urine samples collected from human volunteers who had eaten cooked burgers either after a cruciferous vegetable free period or after consuming cruciferous vegetables for 14 days.
<p>The project was able to demonstrate that dietary intervention with cruciferous vegetables modified the metabolic handling of PhIP and identified the need for further work.
<p>Since T01009 ended in 2002, advances in technology, and notably in metabonomics have made it possible to carry out detailed analysis of biofluids using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectroscopy (MS) combined with sophisticated bioinformatic data analysis.
<p>These techniques have made it possible to identify metabolic changes due to disease, homeostasis or the administration of exogenous chemicals.
<p>Find more about this project and other FSA food safety-related projects at the <a href="http://www.food.gov.uk/science/research/" target="_blank">Food Standards Agency Research webpage</a>.