The impact of cooking methods on the nutritional quality and safety of chicken breaded nuggets

The impact of cooking methods (industrial pre-frying, deep-fat frying and baking) on the nutritional quality and safety of chicken breaded nugget samples from supermarket and commercial brands was evaluated. The changes in the quality characteristics (nutritional composition, fatty acids profile, cholesterol and salt) of the fried food and frying oil, after ten consecutive frying operations, were evaluated. The total fat content of nuggets varied between 10.9 and 22.7 g per 100 g of edible portion and the salt content ranged from 0.873 to 1.63 g per 100 g. Taking into account one portion of nuggets, the daily intake of salt can reach 49%, which can have a significant impact on the health of those who regularly consume this type of food, especially considering the prevalence of hypertension around the world. The analysed chicken breaded nuggets are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which have been related with potential health benefits, namely regarding cardiovascular diseases. The cholesterol content of baked samples was two times higher when compared with the fried ones. The trans fatty acids and polar compounds contents of the frying oil used for frying significantly increased, but the values were still away from the maximum recommended by legal entities for its rejection. From a nutritional point of view, it is possible to conclude that the applied cooking methods can significantly influence the nutritional quality and safety of the analysed chicken breaded nuggets. This study will contribute to important knowledge on how the applied cooking methods can change the nutritional quality and safety of foods, namely of chicken nuggets, and can be very useful for dietary recommendations and nutritional assessment.

Occupational exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in hospitality venues: are genetic- or proteomics-based biomarkers predictive of respiratory diseases?

Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is recognized as an occupational hazard in the hospitality industry. Although Portuguese legislation banned smoking in most indoor public spaces, it is still allowed in some restaurants/bars, representing a potential risk to the workers’ health, particularly for chronic respiratory diseases. The aims of this work were to characterize biomarkers of early genetic effects and to disclose proteomic signatures associated to occupational exposure to ETS and with potential to predict respiratory diseases development. A detailed lifestyle survey and clinical evaluation (including spirometry) were performed in 81 workers from Lisbon restaurants. ETS exposure was assessed through the level of PM 2.5 in indoor air and the urinary level of cotinine. The plasma samples were immunodepleted and analysed by 2D-SDSPAGE followed by in-gel digestion and LC-MS/MS. DNA lesions and chromosome damage were analysed innlymphocytes and in exfoliated buccal cells from 19 cigarette smokers, 29 involuntary smokers, and 33 non-smokers not exposed to tobacco smoke. Also, the DNA repair capacity was evaluated using an ex vivo challenge comet assay with an alkylating agent (EMS). All workers were considered healthy and recorded normal lung function. Interestingly, following 2D-DIGE-MS (MALDI-TOF/TOF), 61 plasma proteins were found differentially expressed in ETS-exposed subjects, including 38 involved in metabolism, acute-phase respiratory inflammation, and immune or vascular functions. On the other hand, the involuntary smokers showed neither an increased level of DNA/chromosome damage on lymphocytes nor an increased number of micronuclei in buccal cells, when compared to non-exposed non-smokers. Noteworthy, lymphocytes challenge with EMS resulted in a significantly lower level of DNA breaks in ETS-exposed as compared to non-exposed workers (P<0.0001) suggestive of an adaptive response elicited by the previous exposure to low levels of ETS. Overall, changes in proteome may be promising early biomarkers of exposure to ETS. Likewise, alterations of the DNA repair competence observed upon ETS exposure deserves to be further understood. Work supported by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, ACSS and FCT/Polyannual Funding Program.