Novel roles of hydrocolloids in foods: Inhibition of toxic maillard reaction products formation and attenuation of their harmful effects

Abstract Background Maillard reaction in foods gives rise to toxic byproducts such as heterocyclic amines (HCAs), acrylamide (AA) and advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Inhibition of their formation during thermal processing is the most practical way to minimize their dietary exposure and thus the associated health risks. Various effective strategies have been proposed, especially with the use of exogenous additives such as polyphenols and emerging hydrocolloids. Hydrocolloids have attracted increasing attention due to their unique structural diversities that enable them to actively participate in Maillard reaction to mitigate the formation of toxic byproducts. They also have the potential to attenuate the harmful effects of these toxic byproducts. Hence, hydrocolloids represent an important class of food ingredients with dual beneficial potential, whereas a systematic review is currently lacking. Scope and approach This review summarizes influencing factors (precursors, processing methods and parameters, and exogenous additives) of thermally induced toxicants (HCAs, AA and AGEs) formation, as well as inhibitory strategies emphasizing on the effects and potential inhibitory mechanism of hydrocolloids. The ability of hydrocolloids to attenuate their harmful effects is also highlighted. Key findings and conclusions Hydrocolloids, alone or in combination with other purported inhibitors of harmful Maillard reaction products (MRPs), may be used in form of powders or aqueous solution for pretreatment of food. Moreover, their water-holding and gelling properties render them suitable for application in form of coatings that may offer additional benefits (e.g. reduction of oil uptake during frying) besides inhibiting the formation of hazardous MRPs. Although a reasonable number of studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of hydrocolloids against both the formation and the harmful effects of Maillard byproducts, more detailed and systematic analyses are needed to clearly characterize their structure-activity relationships and their mechanisms of action.