The traditional Chinese marinade made of soy sauce, sugar and water is one most Chinese mothers use when cooking meat and eggs. But it is doubtful they realise it reduces the unhealthy cholesterol compounds created during cooking.
A year-long research project led by Chen Bing-huei from the Nutrition and Food Science Department at Taiwan's Fu Jen Catholic University has revealed that the marinade inhibits the formation of cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) when meat is grilled.
COPs, formed when cholesterol-rich foods are cooked or charred, are an unhealthy compound that can cause heart disease or cancer.
'Just use 10 per cent soy sauce, 1 per cent sugar and 89 per cent water and cook with ground pork for at least one hour at a temperature of 100 degrees Celsius, and the marinade can bring the level of COPs in the pork down sharply,' Professor Chen said.
He and a group of graduate school students found the marinade generated Maillard reaction products (MRPs) that inhibited COPs formation. MRPs, which have antioxidant properties, are formed through reactions between proteins and sugars.
He said that if pork was cooked alone, the concentration of COPs in it would rise to 2,226 nanograms per gram of pork. If cooked after 24 hours of marinating in a 10 per cent soy sauce solution, the level of COPs would go down by 63 per cent, and if the marinade also contained 10 per cent sugar, the level would be reduced by 71 per cent.
