Analytical strategies to depict the fate of the Maillard reaction in foods

Thousands of molecules are formed as result of the reaction between reducing carbonyls and amino groups, making the Maillard reaction one of the functional orchestrators of food quality. Upon the formation of the Amadori and Heyns compounds, a bewildering network of reactions takes place and a parallelism between the optimization of analytical tools and the significance of the molecules formed can be traced. This review dives into the chemical aspects of the MR highlighting the interrelation among analytical techniques, dietary advanced glycation end-products, food quality and human health.