Dietary secondary amines and liver hepatoma in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Dietary secondary amines of some Nigerian foodstuffs were analyzed by Soxhlet extraction, using petroleum ether (b.p. 60-80 degrees C); followed by thin layer chromatography developed in a solvent system; n-butanol: 95% ethanol: water (4:2:1) for the qualitative test. Each UV fluorescent band in the test chromatogram was scraped and eluted with distilled water, filtered and assayed for secondary amine content for the quantitative test. Quantitative estimations were by the colorimetric methods. The results show that Ugu--Telfairia occidentalo; millet--Panicum miliaceum; bitter leaf--Vernonia amygdalina; mushroom--Boletus spp; and Okro--Hibiscus esculentus contain diethylamine, dimethylamine, morpholine and ethylaniline. Garri--Manihot utilissima flour contains diethylamine and dimethylamine only; while fish (frozen) Tilapia malanopleura contains diethylamine, dimethylamine and piperidine and the smoked fish--Tilapia nilotica contains diethylamine, dimethylamine, ethylaniline, morpholine, piperidine and n-propylamine. Cocoyam--Xanthosoma sagittifolium contains diethylamine, dimethylamine, morpholine, ethylaniline and proline. The results also show that the secondary amine content of the various foodstuffs ranged between 0.80-0.91 microg N/kg. The public health implications of these findings are discussed.