Effects of o-phenylenediamine on methylglyoxal generation from monosaccharide: Comment on "correlation of methylglyoxal with acrylamide formation in fructose/asparagine Maillard reaction model system"

Methylglyoxal (MG), a reactive carbonyl compound, has recently garnered much attention because of its ability to modify proteins over time and yield advanced glycation end products (AGEs) that are thought to contribute to the development of diabetes mellitus and its complications. In a recent paper published in Food Chemistry by Yuan et al. [Yuan, Y., Zhao, G. H., Hu, X. S., Wu, J. H., Liu, J., & Chen, F. (2007a). Correlation of methylglyoxal with acrylamide formation in fructose/asparagines Maillard reaction model system. Food Chemistry, 108(3), 885-890] authors showed a high correlation between methylglyoxal formation and acrylamide formation. However, in their study, model systems of aqueous fructose/asparagines (Fru/Asn) and fructose/asparagines/o-phenylenediamine (Fru/Asn/OPD) heating at 150 °C were used. The validity of these models relies on the assumption that OPD will only serve the role of a trapping agent for MG. In this short communication, we would like to call to attention that MG can also have a strong catalytic effect in the generation of MG from fructose. Therefore, it is concluded that the concentration of MG obtained in Fru/Asn/OPD model system cannot correspond to the total amount of MG formed by Maillard reaction of Fru and Asn as claimed by Yuan et al. [Yuan, Y., Zhao, G. H., Hu, X. S., Wu, J. H., Liu, J., & Chen, F. (2007a). Correlation of methylglyoxal with acrylamide formation in fructose/asparagines Maillard reaction model system. Food Chemistry, 108(3), 885-890, Yuan, Y., Zhao, G. H., Hu X. S., Wu, J. H., Liu, J., & Chen. F. (2007b). High correlation of methylglyoxal with acrylamide formation in glucose/asparagine Maillardreaction model. European Food Research and Technology. doi:10.1007/s00217-007-0658-0].