Mutagenicity of methylglyoxal in coffee

Major carbonyl compounds from a extract of ground roasted coffee beans were identified as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, acetol, glyoxal, methylglyoxal and diacetyl. Among these carbonyl compounds, methylglyoxal showed considerable mutagenic activity toward Salmonella typhimurium TA100 without S9 mix (around 100,000 revertants/mg). More than 50% of the total mutagenic activity of coffee can be accounted for by the activity of methylglyoxal.