A Study on the Mutagenicity of Thermally Oxidized Safflower Oil

Deep-fat frying is a common cooking practice. There has been considerable concern regarding the mutagenic and carcinogenic potential of thermally oxidized oils. Studies on deep-fried foods so far have revealed not much on the mutagenicity of the oils in the foods. Therefore, in the present study, it was attempted to investigate the mutagenicity of the thermally oxidized safflower oil. Oil was heated in a home-fryer at a temperature of 180 absolute value 3 degrees for 48 hours. Oil samples were taken at 0, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, and 48 hours of heating, respectively, Each sample was used to study the changes in peroxide value (POV), acid value (AV), iodine value (IV), conjugated dienoic acid (CDA) content,%,and fatty acid composition. Another series of samples were fractionated into non-polar and polar fractions by column chromatography. The mutagenicity of the samples taken from the thermally oxidized oils, as well as the non-polar and polar fractions of the thermally oxidized oils, was investigated with the Ames test. The Ames test was carried out with and without metabolic activation. Bacterial tester strains used in the present study were the histidine auxotrophic strains of Salmonella typhimurium TA100, TA1535 and TA102 were used for the detection of base pair mutations, and TA98 and TA1537 for frame shift mutations. Each series of samples was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (inhibitor-free) and tested at doses ranging from 0.05 to 5 mg/plate. None of the oil samples taken during the 48 hour oxidation period showed any mutagenic activity. This was the case, even after the activation with S9 mis. Also, none of the polar and non-polar fractions showed any mutagenic activity on all the strains tested.