Metabolic Signatures of 10 Processed and Non-processed Meat Products after In Vitro Digestion.

Roland Wedekind,Nivonirina Robinot,Frederic Mercier,Pekka Keski-Rahkonen,Inge Huybrechts,Erwan Engel,Augustin Scalbert

doi:10.3390/metabo10070272

Abstract

The intake of processed meat has been associated with several adverse health outcomes such as type II diabetes and cancer; however, the mechanisms are not fully understood. A better knowledge of the metabolite profiles of different processed and non-processed meat products from this heterogeneous food group could help in elucidating the mechanisms associated with these health effects. Thirty-three different commercial samples of ten processed and non-processed meat products were digested in triplicate with a standardized static in vitro digestion method in order to mimic profiles of small molecules formed in the gut upon digestion. A metabolomics approach based on high-resolution mass spectrometry was used to identify metabolite profiles specific to the various meat products. Processed meat products showed metabolite profiles clearly distinct from those of non-processed meat. Several discriminant features related to either specific ingredients or processing methods were identified. Those were, in particular, syringol compounds deposited in meat during smoking, biogenic amines formed during meat fermentation and piperine and related compounds characteristic of pepper used as an ingredient. These metabolites, characteristic of specific processed meat products, might be used as potential biomarkers of intake for these foods. They may also help in understanding the mechanisms linking processed meat intake and adverse health outcomes such as cancer.

Highlights

The intake of red and processed meat has been associated with an increased risk of several adverse health outcomes such as cancer [1], type II diabetes [2] and all-cause mortality [3]
In vitro digests of 33 different meat samples from 10 processed meat types (Table 1) were analyzed by high resolution mass spectrometry coupled with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC–HRMS) and 5503 metabolite features present in at least four samples were selected for further analysis
When plotting the scores of the first and second principal components (PC1 and PC2) of a principal components analysis (PCA), it was found that meat products of the same type tend to cluster together (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

The intake of red and processed meat has been associated with an increased risk of several adverse health outcomes such as cancer [1], type II diabetes [2] and all-cause mortality [3]. Processed meat products form a diverse group of foods obtained from fresh meat using processing methods that include salting, curing, smoking, fermentation and drying to enhance shelf life and palatability. They can be categorized into fresh processed meat, cured meat pieces, raw-cooked products, precooked-cooked products, raw (dry)-fermented sausages and dried meat [4]. Metabolites 2020, 10, 272 processing methods applied to the meat products [5] Some of these compounds can be found in both processed and non-processed meat such as carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which are mainly generated during the smoking or barbecuing of meat [6]. The formation of heme-mediated carcinogenic lipid-oxidation by-products is increased by a high fat content of meat products, grinding and cooking of meat and exposure to oxygen [8,9], conditions which apply to many processed meat products

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