Application of thiol compounds to reduce acrylamide levels and increase antioxidant activity of French fries

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of thiol compounds, glutathione (GSH), cysteine (CYS) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC), on the color, antioxidant activity, total phenolic, ascorbic acid and acrylamide content of French fries which were fried at 180 degrees C for 6 min. Three different concentrations (0.5%, 1.0%, 2.0%) of each thiol compound were tested. Sulphite solution was used as a benchmark. According to the results, CYS and NAC solutions increased the antioxidant activity but GSH solution did not affect. The amount of ascorbic acid was highest in CYS (1.0%, 2.0%) and GSH (2.0%) treated samples. Although all pre-treatments decreased the acrylamide content, GSH2.0%, NAC2.0%, CYS (0.5%, 1.0%, 2.0%) provided 62-70% reduction. In addition, acrylamide showed a high correlation with L* (r=-0.82), a* (r=0.84), b* (r=0.77), Delta E (r=0.66), ascorbic acid (r=-0.79) and weak correlation with thiol content (r=-0.45). On the other hand, antioxidant activities had lack of correlation with acrylamide.