Maillard Reaction: an ever green hot topic in food and biological science

In September 2012 about 250 scientists coming from five continents convened in Nancy to celebrate the centenary of the discovery of the Maillard Reaction (MR). This reaction is known in the medical field as the non-enzymatic protein glycation reaction leading to the formation in the human tissue of Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs).

Such an interest devoted to a single chemical reaction might appear weird at a first glance; but actually the reaction between carbohydrate and proteins includes many of the most important reactions taking place in food during processing because it is the origin of the colour, flavour, texture and taste of many heat-treated products. This was exactly what Louis Camille Maillard anticipated when he discovered the reaction envisaging that it could play a fundamental role in many different research fields, food chemistry, food technology, fundamental biology, diabetics, eye health and nutritional science.

This peculiar background explains the wide interest of scientists from such diverse fields in participating in the meeting in Nancy, most of them belonging to IMARS – The International Maillard Reaction Society (http://www.imars.org).

In this special issue 13 papers focusing on the MR in foods and their implications for body functionality are collected. The first group of studies directly investigated the effect of specific MR products such as the N-carboxymethyl-lysine (CML), or of a MR product-rich diet on different parameters related to inflammation, food intake and satiety. Although the investigations of these aspects are relatively new, there is mounting evidence suggesting that many functional parameters are modified by a diet rich in severely heated foods. In this field there is a tremendous need for collaborations between food and medical scientists: it is only by starting from a sound chemical characterization of the diet that the results of the physiological relevance of dietary AGEs will be finally elucidated.

The research on the chemistry of MR product formation is still very important as it is necessary to correlate compound structure with the functional effects. The results reported in the second group of papers provide good examples in this respect. They highlight the need to investigate in detail the formation of MR products in the various food matrices: the results demonstrate how modern analytical techniques allow elucidation of the pathways of the reaction which have been too complex to understand thus far.

Finally, the safety aspects related to food production are addressed in the third group of papers, among which the acrylamide and furan issues are discussed. This topic should be studied within a holistic approach, by taking into account simultaneously the positive and negative impacts of heat treatment. The problem of process contaminants can be considered as a lever for the development of innovative technologies allowing mitigation of the contaminants while maintaining or even improving the nutritional and sensorial properties of processed foods.

One hundred year after its discovery, the MR is still an active centre of scientific interest in many different fields. It still drives true interdisciplinary research paving the way for new basic science discovery as well as for applicative research.

This volume is dedicated to Mr Claude Mathieu of Nancy, Lorraine, France. Mr Mathieu was a founding director and former president of the international association “Les Amis de Louis Camille Maillard”. It was Mr Mathieu’s dream to host the 11th International Symposium on the Maillard Reaction (ISMR11) in Nancy on the centenary of the publication of Maillard’s landmark paper in 1912. Mr Mathieu proposed the venue in Nancy and worked closely with the organizing committee for IMARS11, but passed away suddenly in June of 2012, just a few months before the meeting. He was an enthusiastic scholar and pupil of Maillard and the Maillard reaction, and an accomplished chef. He would have enjoyed ISMR11. There is an excellent summary of Mr Mathieu’s work at: http://www.als.uhp-nancy.fr/conferences/2012/BiographieMaillard.pdf

---