Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Apr 22;25(8):1941.
doi: 10.3390/molecules25081941.

The Toxicological Aspects of the Heat-Borne Toxicant 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural in Animals: A Review

Mayada R Farag  1 , Mahmoud Alagawany  2 , May Bin-Jumah  3 , Sarah I Othman  3 , Asmaa F Khafaga  4 , Hazem M Shaheen  5 , Dalia Samak  6 , Abdelrazeq M Shehata  7   8 , Ahmed A Allam  9 , Mohamed E Abd El-Hack  2
Affiliations
Review

The Toxicological Aspects of the Heat-Borne Toxicant 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural in Animals: A Review

Mayada R Farag et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

The incidence of adverse reactions in food is very low, however, some food products contain toxins formed naturally due to their handling, processing and storage conditions. 5-(Hydroxymethyl)-2-furfural (HMF) can be formed by hydrogenation of sugar substances in some of manufactured foodstuffs and honey under elevated temperatures and reduced pH conditions following Maillard reactions. In previous studies, it was found that HMF was responsible for harmful (mutagenic, genotoxic, cytotoxic and enzyme inhibitory) effects on human health. HMF occurs in a wide variety of food products like dried fruit, juice, caramel products, coffee, bakery, malt and vinegar. The formation of HMF is not only an indicator of food storage conditions and quality, but HMF could also be used as an indicator of the potential occurrence of contamination during heat-processing of some food products such as coffee, milk, honey and processed fruits. This review focuses on HMF formation and summarizes the adverse effects of HMF on human health.

Keywords: 5-hydroxymethylfurfural; Maillard reaction; heat-borne; toxicant; toxicology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Production of HMF in honey.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mechanism of HMF formation from simple sugars.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Adverse effect of HMF on human health.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Van Boekel M., Fogliano V., Pellegrini N., Stanton C., Scholz G., Lalljie S., Somoza V., Knorr D., Jasti P.R., Eisenbrand G. A review on the beneficial aspects of food processing. Mol. Nutr. Food Res. 2010;54:1215–1247. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.200900608. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Rada-Mendoza M., Sanz M., Olano A., Villamiel M. Formation of hydroxymethylfurfural and furosine during the storage of jams and fruit-based infant foods. Food Chem. 2004;85:605–609. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2003.07.002. - DOI
    1. Teixidó E., Santos F., Puignou L., Galceran M. Analysis of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural in foods by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. J. Chromatogr. A. 2006;1135:85–90. doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2006.09.023. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baldwin I.T., Staszak-Kozinski L., Davidson R. Up in smoke: I. Smoke-derived germination cues for postfire annual, Nicotiana attenuata torr. Ex. Watson. J. Chem. Ecol. 1994;20:2345–2371. doi: 10.1007/BF02033207. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chou C.C., Hee S.S.Q. Bioassay-driven analysis of chewing tobacco extracts. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. Int. J. 1994;13:1177–1186. doi: 10.1002/etc.5620130719. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources