FRIED STAPLE FOODS DANGER - Acrylamides Attack the Thyroid

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FRIED STAPLE FOODS DANGER - Acrylamides Attack the Thyroid JoAnn Guest Jan

06, 2005 21:34 PST

 

 

European and American food science experts and officials are taking

concerted action to try to reduce potentially dangerous levels of

acrylamide, a toxin known to cause cancer, in staple foods.

 

The move follows an announcement in March by Swedish scientists that

acrylamides were present in a wide range of foods, particularly

fried, starch-based foods, such as chips and French fries.

 

" ...t is the first time we are dealing with substances that are

potentially carcinogenic in human staple foods, " said Dieter Arnold

of the Federal Institute for Consumer Health Protection in Berlin.

The experts said that traces of carcinogens can be found in grilled

and baked meats, but acrylamide represents an even greater danger.

Acrylamide is a known poisonous substance produced in plastics

manufacture.

Its presence in food was a chance discovery by researchers at Stockholm

University testing tunnel workers exposed to large quantities of

acrylamide from a water sealant in 1997.

When they found similarly high levels in the blood of workers not

exposed

to the sealant, they concluded that diet was responsible.

Studies to date show that a minimum temperature of 120 degrees C is

needed to start formation of acrylamide in foods, although 140 to 180

degrees C is optimal.

" The hotter and longer you bake or fry, the more carcinogen forms, " said

Dr. Arnold. The carcinogen tends to attack the thyroid gland, female

mammary gland, male testes, and mouth.

(Organic NZ, September/October 2002, Soil & Health Association of NZ

Inc., P.O. Box 36-170, Northcote, Auckland 9 or 29 Pearn Crescent,

Northcote. In-,

www.organicnz.pl.net.)

_________________

JoAnn Guest

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