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Mice are often used to test whether substances in food are harmfulto humans. This requires that mice and humans metabolise substancesin the same way. Humans have certain enzymes in more parts of thebody than mice. The health risk associated with harmful substancesin food may therefore be underestimated. Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health haveadopted a mouse type where human enzymes have been inserted toexamine whether people may be more sensitive to certaincarcinogenic substances from heat-treated foods. They have obtaineda better model to assess negative health effects in humans fromsubstances in food using these mice. The results show that the incidence of intestinal tumours increasedfrom 31 per cent to 80 per cent in "human-like" mice who consumedsubstances from meat crust (i.e. the surface formed duringheat-treatment). Food mutagens Heat-processing of food can lead to the formation of carcinogenicsubstances. The formation of carcinogenic substances - so-calledfood mutagens - usually occurs at high temperatures when frying orgrilling. There are enzymes called sulfotransferases (SULT) in several placesin the human body. These are only found in the livers of normallaboratory mice. SULT-enzymes can make some substances in food lessharmful, but they can also transform harmless substances intocarcinogenic substances. Better research Humans have SULT-enzymes in many organs while normal mice only havethem in the liver. Using results from laboratory mice to predicthealth risk to humans consuming food mutagens can therefore beunderestimated. Researchers at the NIPH used laboratory mice withthe same amount of SULT-enzymes in the intestines as humans intheir experiments. The mice received the food mutagen often found in highestquantities in the crust of meat and fish. The researchers wanted tostudy tumour development in the intestines of the "human-like"mice, and compare this with tumour development in normal mice giventhe same food mutagen. The results showed that the incidence of intestinal tumoursincreased from 31 per cent to 80 per cent in "human-like" miceafter consuming substances from the meat crust. This shows that normal laboratory mice are not a good model forassessing the health risk to humans following ingestion of foodmutagens from well-done meat and fish. The study is funded by the Norwegian Research Council. Additional References Citations. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Rubber Stress Ball , China Pneumatic Piston Seal, and more. For more , please visit Compact Pressure Washer today!
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