Mmm Acrylamide...

I was pregnant the first time I became aware of the hazards of acrylamide. Morning sickness meant that I couldn't tolerate a lot of foods that I had previously loved. The normally enticing aromas from things like pesto and coffee were ampilified to such an extent that I could only look at or eat the most boring and bland of foods. My daily diet was reduced to toast, cream crackers, butter puffs, rich tea biscuits and water. Anything else was sure to send me retching to the bathroom. A diet not only rich in carbohydrate but acrylamide too.


I managed to push the issue of acrylamide to the back of my mind for the rest of my pregnancy and in fact for the next few years. Really I should have known better. I was aware from my days working in a lab that acrylamide was toxic. Anyone ingesting it would first, have been rushed to hospital and second, if still alive, would have been sent for a psychiatric evaluation! Yet here I was, happily chomping down acrylamide on a daily basis and worse still, feeding it to my children.

However, in the last month or so, acrylamide has reared it's ugly head once again, and this time I've started to take notice and more importantly take action. Apparently, while I was burying my head in the sand, researchers in the Netherlands had discovered that women who consumed on average 40 micrograms of acrylamide per day were at greater risk of developing endometrial and ovarian cancer. The same group also reported a link between high dietary acrylamide and renal cell cancer. Acrylamide was already known to cause cancer in animals and these studies have demonstrated a definite risk to humans too. When we ingest acrylamide, it is converted in glycidamide and this in turn is a mutagen which can cause damage to our DNA, thus turning healthy cells into cancerous ones. A recent study has shown that acrylamide and glycidamide can cross the placenta.

The problem with acrylamide is that it's present in many of my favourite foods. It's also very difficult to eradicate. Any plant-based foods like bread and potatoes that have been heated above 120 oC will contain acrylamide. Baking, roasting, microwaving and especially frying, all result in the its formation. During this type of cooking the Maillard reaction leads to the nice brown colour that signals to us that our food is cooked. Unfortunately, the browner your food the more acrylamide that's present. It's thought that sugars present in the food react with an amino acid called asparagine resulting in the formation of acrylamide. Boiling seems to be the only method of cooking that does not raise acrylamide levels.

In September this year, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) published a survey of acrylamide along with other process contaminants in our food. The results make quite frightening reading. Crisps, potato-based snacks, vegetable crisps, dark rye crispbread and ginger nut biscuits were some of the worst offenders at over 1000 micrograms/kg. Then chips, biscuits including baby rusks, crackers, prune juice, breakfast cereals, coffee (not brewed) had in the region of 100-500 micrograms/kg. The level in bread was much lower approx 30 micrograms/kg, however these levels are increased (x10) by toasting. To put things in perspective - a daily intake of 40 micrograms was the level mentioned by the Dutch researchers and from the FSA data we can estimate that there's 48 micrograms in a 30gram packet of Hula hoops, or 24 micrograms in 30grams of Pringles, or 40 micrograms in 2-3 dark rye Ryvita crackers. So just one packet of Hula hoops a day could double a woman's risk of developing ovarian or endometrial cancer!

According to the FSA report, experts advise that exposure to acrylamide should be as low as reasonably practicable. In other words we should eat as little of it as possible. So I have decided that we as a family are going to cut down on acrylamide and here's how:

• Crisps, potato-based snacks, oven chips, crackers, ginger nuts, breakfast cereal are off the shopping list and will be avoided whenever possible.
• We'll buy bread that's baked in the traditional slow way which allows the yeast to act for a longer period of time than in the industrial rapid processes. The action of the yeast lowers the levels of acrylamide - so no more supermarket bread. We'll also try to eat less toast.
• Potatoes will be stored at room temperature, if stored in the fridge the levels of acrylamide are higher after cooking.

Other tips for reducing acrylamide are:

• Chips soaked for 30 mins before cooking apparently contain lower acrylamide, but only if you remember to cook them just to a light golden colour.
• Rosemary is known to decrease acrylamide levels in food, so it's worth bearing in mind if baking bread
• In industry they're experimenting with an enzyme called asparaginase to reduce the amount of asparagine in food, thus reducing acrylamide production during the cooking process.
• They're also investigating adding sulphur to the soil to reduce asparagine content in crops grown which in turn would lower acrylamide in the final cooked product.

Our lifetime risk of developing cancer is increasing with every generation - at present 1 in 3 of us will develop cancer at some point in our lives. So it's worth paying attention to the level of acrylamide in food. It's probably unrealistic to say eliminate it completely from your diet but make informed food choices and eat acrylamide in moderation as part of a healthy diet.


Other webites of Interest
FSA Q&A
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Q&A
US FDA Food Survey (Ahh! Peanut butter chocolate, cocoa and olives all contain significant levels!) Review on carcinogenicity of acrylamide (Table I shows acrylamide content of various foods)