Amino acid regulation and predictive modeling of PhIP and pyrazines in Maillard reaction systems

The present study systematically investigated the dual regulatory mechanisms of basic L-histidine and neutral L-proline in Maillard reaction model systems. The results demonstrated that basic amino acids exhibited significant advantages in simultaneously reducing the formation of the deleterious compound 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) while enhancing pyrazine flavor compounds. When heated at 230 degrees C for 530 min, supplementation with 20100 mg/L L-histidine resulted in 18.7558.69 % PhIP reduction and 66.8588.97 % increases in beneficial pyrazine compounds. On the basis of these findings, we developed a partial least squares (PLS) regression model showing strong predictive performance for both PhIP (R(2)c and R(2)p > 0.73) and beneficial pyrazine compounds (R(2)c and R(2)p > 0.77). These results provide a theoretical basis for improving thermal food processing safety and confirm that single amino acid supplementation enables simultaneous hazard reduction and flavor enhancement, offering new strategies for safer and more sustainable food production systems.