Analytical Surveys of Food

The absorption and metabolism in rats of small oral doses of dimethylnitrosamine. Implication for the possible hazard of dimethylnitrosamine in human food

“…The lowest dose used in these experiments is comparable with those which man might receive if he ate some of the foods which are known to contain high concentrations of nitrosamines (Egan & Hubbard, 1975;Scanlan, 1975). One must be cautious in extrapolating these results to man because, among other things, it is not known whether the gastrointestinal tract of man can metabolize dimethylnitrosamine; however, if the factors controlling absorption and metabolism are similar in man and rat, these experiments would have some interesting implications.…”

“…Small amounts of carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds are found in human food (Egan & Hubbard, 1975;Scanlan, 1975) and possibly may be formed in the acid contents of the stomach by the reaction between nitrite and amines in the diet (Sander, 1971a,b,c). One carcinogenic nitrosamine found in human food is dimethylnitrosamine.…”

“…One carcinogenic nitrosamine found in human food is dimethylnitrosamine. Prolonged feeding of this compound to the rat produces liver cancer (Magee & Barnes, 1956), and although the minimum dietary amount needed to induce in rats a detectable increase in cancer incidence (2mg/kg of diet) (Terracini et al, 1967) is far greater than the amount of this carcinogen in the diet of man (Egan & Hubbard, 1975), there have been worries that this contamination is a hazard to health. It is obvious that large doses of the nitrosamine cross the gut wall because they reach the liver in amounts sufficient to induce cancer.…”