Meat cooked at high temperatures contains potential carcinogenic compounds, such as heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Samples from a 2-week controlled feeding study were used to examine the relationship between the intake of mutagenicity from meat fried at different temperatures and the levels of mutagenicity subsequently detected in urine, as well as the influence of the genotype of drug metabolizing enzymes on urinary mutagenicity. Sixty subjects consumed ground beef patties fried at low temperature (100 degrees C) for 1 week, followed by ground beef patties fried at high temperature (250 degrees C) the second week. Mutagenicity in the meat was assayed in Salmonella typhimurium TA98 (+S9), and urinary mutagenicity was determined using Salmonella YG1024 (+S9). Genotypes for NAT1, NAT2, GSTM1, and UGT1A1 were analyzed using blood samples from the subjects. Meat fried at 100 degrees C was not mutagenic, whereas meat fried at 250 degrees C was mutagenic (1023 rev/g). Unhydrolyzed and hydrolyzed urine samples were 22x and 131x more mutagenic, respectively, when subjects consumed red meat fried at 250 degrees C compared with red meat fried at 100 degrees C. We found that hydrolyzed urine was approximately 8x more mutagenic than unhydrolyzed urine, likely due to the deconjugation of mutagens from glucuronide. The intake of meat cooked at high temperature correlated with the mutagenicity of unhydrolyzed urine (r = 0.32, P = 0.01) and hydrolyzed urine (r = 0.34, P = 0.008). Mutagenicity in unhydrolyzed urine was not influenced by NAT1, NAT2, or GSTM1 genotypes. However, a UGT1A1*28 polymorphism that reduced UGT1A1 expression and conjugation modified the effect of intake of meat cooked at high temperature on mutagenicity of unhydrolyzed urine (P for interaction = 0.04). These mutagenicity data were also compared with previously determined levels of HCAs (measured as MeIQx, DiMeIQx, and PhIP) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the meat, levels of HCAs in the urine, and CYP1A2 and NAT2 phenotypes. The levels of mutagenicity in the meat fried at low and high temperatures correlated with levels of HCAs, but not levels of PAHs, in the meat. Also, levels of mutagenicity in unhydrolyzed urine correlated with levels of MeIQx in unhydrolyzed urine (r = 0.36; P = 0.01), and the levels of mutagenicity of hydrolyzed urine correlated with levels of MeIQx (r = 0.34; P = 0.01) and PhIP (r = 0.43; P = 0.001) of hydrolyzed urine. Mutagenicity in unhydrolyzed urine was not influenced by either the CYP1A2 or NAT2 phenotype. The data from this study indicate that urinary mutagenicity correlates with mutagenic exposure from cooked meat and can potentially be used as a marker in etiological studies on cancer.