摘要: Nutrition and diet are closely related to cancer development in human beings (1, 2). For instance, intake of high levels of calories and fat is related to high incidence of cancers in the colon and breast in humans. In addition, a high intake of protein is also claimed to be related to high incidences of cancers in certain organs like the urinary bladder. Minor elements such as vitamins and selenium are also related to human carcinogenesis, and a high daily intake of salt is generally thought to enhance stomach carcinogenesis. Nitrite and nitrate intakes are closely related to in vivo production of carcinogenic nitrosamine and nitrosamide compounds. Moreover, non-nutritional components such as fibre are important factors in suppressing the incidence of colon cancer. All these relations are described in detail in this volume of the proceedings of the Symposium. Aromatic hydrocarbons produced by heating, nitrosamines and their precursors, aflatoxin B, produced by mould, and other naturally occurring substances including cycasin in cycad nuts, ptaquiloside (aquilide A) in bracken fern, and pyrrolizidine alkaloids in some edible plants have been shown to be mutagens/carcinogens in food (3, 4). In this chapter, newly discovered heterocyclic amines, which are produced by cooking fish and meat, are introduced. These compounds are mutagenic to Salmonella typhimurium TA98 and TA100 with a metabolic activation system. They are also mutagenic and clastogenic towards cultured mammalian cells. Moreover, in long-term animal carcinogenesis experiments, all of these compounds so far tested were carcinogenic (5-7). Since this new class of mutagens …