Posted by JD on June 3, 1999, at 5:47:49
In reply to Re: MAO diet / biogenic amines in food, posted by Annie on June 1, 1999, at 14:45:53
Well, there's some confirmation of what I naively thought was just my own weird idea--never having dealt up-close with an MAOI diet, I wasn't aware that marination was already recognized as potentially causing tyramine problems. Is this something commonly told to people on MAOIs? I had almost mentioned meat tenderizers in my post too, since--as you say--their basic *job* is to break down proteins... All very interesting, but hopefully not too confusing for people trying to follow a reasonably safe MAOI diet! I wonder if this helps to solve the riddle of the hypertensive chicken?
--JD> My Pdoc told me to avoid any agent or additive that causes protein to break down in foods. He specifically included meat tenderizers. Since one of the purposes of marinating meat is to tenderize it, marinade was out. Soy products(primarily soy sauce) and yeast were also on my "to be avoided list" , and they are very frequently ingredients in commercial marinades.
> Annie
>
> > Perhaps there could be something to my flame-broiling/marination MAOI-interaction theory--maybe I'll hunt around the periodical databases and see what I find on the "health scare" I mentioned. I'm pretty positive that the articles I saw this spring (in the LA Times--the land of healthy eating) mentioned that the concerns had to do with the behavior of proteins when cooking over intense open flame. Marination usually involves tenderizing and flavoring foods beforehand with acidic preparations (vinegar-, citrus-based, etc.)--I wouldn't be surprised if this actually involves some weird protein chemistry capable of leading to higher tyramine content too...But file under speculation for the time being!
> > --JD
> >
> >
> > > JD,
> > >
> > > That's an interesting idea. The amines that cause food-MAOI interactions are generally formed by the breakdown of proteins. (A few foods, like banana peels and broad bean pods, contain the amines even though they're not so high in protein. I don't know *what* the deal is with tap beer - probably has something to do with yeast.) I don't know if cooking things in particular ways would make this more likely - as I said, it's been known to happen with bacteria that come with aging and/or contamination.
> > >
> > > I don't know anything about cooking! What are marinated foods generally marinated *in*?
poster:JD
thread:3352
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990601/msgs/7000.html