雜環胺(HAs)由胺基酸，肌酸肝，肌酸和糖經過加熱所形成，並為相當重要的毒性化合物。許多研究的結果顯示大部分的HAs均具有致突變性和致癌性，因此含HAs食品的安全性已成為大眾所關切的問題。本文主要對食品中HAs的分析，形成與抑制作一綜合回顧與討論。一般分析HAs的方法均使用溶劑萃取，蛋白質沉澱，酸鹼分配以及使用管柱層析法進行純化，再以HPLC或GC進行鑑定和定量，但是大部分方法所得到的HAs回收率均偏低。對HPLC而言，使用二元或三元梯度溶劑系統及紫外光偵測可以同步分離出16種HAs，但使用螢光僅能偵測出9種HAs;使用GC-MS及溫度梯度控制的方法僅能分離鑑定出少數HAs。GC-MS能夠對食品中的HAs進行快速的定性定量，但此種方法在分析的過程中須要使用到較費時的衍生化步驟，且能夠分離的HAs數目有限，另外有些HAs在分離的過程中會裂解而造成拖尾現象;使用HPLC-DAD不但可以快速的定性定量HAs，且能得到較高的靈敏度和選擇性。烘烤和油炸為二種導致高量HAs形成的主要加工方法。食品中烹調過程中生成的HAs可以藉著抗氧化劑和胺基酸添加而抑制，但此種結果仍具有相當的爭議性。必須進行更多的研究以探討不同添加物對食品中HAs抑制的影響。

Heterocyclic amines (HAs), an important class of toxicological compounds,can be formed through heating of four precursors, amino acids, creatinine, creatine and sugars. Numerous studies have shown that most HAs are mutagenic and carcinogenic, and the safety of HAs-containing foods has become a major concern for the public. This paper deals with an overview of analysis, formation and inhibition of HAs in foods. Analysis of HAs from foods is routinely conducted by protein precipitation, followed by acid-base solvent partition, purification with columnchromatography and identification and quantification by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS).However, most of these methods result in low recovery. With HPLC, all 16 HAs can be simultaneously separated by a binary or ternary gradient solvent system and detected by UV. Using fluorescence detection, only nine HAs can be detected. For GC-MS, only a number of HAs are separated and identified by employing a temperature programming method. GC-MS provides rapid identification and quantification of HAs in foods, however, this technique requires a time-consuming derivatization and the number of HAs separation is limited. Also, some HAs may degrade and result in peak tailing. The application of HPLC with photodiode-array detection (HPLC-DAD) can not only permit rapid identification and quantification of HAs, but also enhance sensitivity and electivity. Broiling and frying are two major processing methods causing the formation of high amount of HAs. The formation of HAs in foods during cooking can be inhibited by incorporating additives such as antioxidants and amino acids. However, the results have been controversial. Further research is necessary to study the effect of various additives on inhibition of Has formation in foods.