Study Doubts Acrylamide in Food Causes Cancer

[Guest guest]

> Study Doubts Acrylamide in Food Causes Cancer

> Tue January 28, 2003 04:07 PM ET

> By Patricia Reaney

> LONDON (Reuters) - Fried foods such as potato chips

> and French fries may

> contain a substance that can cause cancer in

> animals, but the levels do not

> appear high enough to increase the risk of the

> disease in humans,

> researchers said on Tuesday.

>

> Swedish scientists sparked a worldwide food scare

> last year when they found

> high levels of acrylamide, a suspected human

> carcinogen, in

> high-carbohydrate foods including crackers, certain

> cereals and cooked

> potatoes.

>

> But new research by scientists at the Harvard School

> of Public Health in

> Boston, Massachusetts, and the Karolinska Institute

> in Sweden--the first to

> look at acrylamide in terms of human diet and cancer

> risk--suggests it may

> not be as dangerous as people have been led to

> believe.

>

> " There was a lot of concern in the public that was

> raised from the initial

> findings of acrylamide in food, " said Dr. Lorelei

> Mucci of Harvard.

>

> " This study provides some evidence that the amount

> of acrylamide people are

> taking in is probably not sufficient to increase the

> risk of cancer, " she

> told Reuters.

>

> Although conclusions about the health risks of

> acrylamide cannot be drawn

> from one study, Mucci said the research is a

> starting point that could help

> to address some of the concerns raised by Sweden's

> National Food

> Administration, a government food safety agency.

>

> ANIMAL STUDIES

>

> Acrylamide, a colorless compound used in

> manufacturing processes, in

> laboratories and in water purification, is labelled

> as a probable carcinogen

> based on data from animal research.

>

> But Mucci said doses given in animal studies were

> several times higher than

> what humans would be exposed to through diet or

> other sources.

>

> " These data suggest the doses of acrylamide people

> are taking in can be

> effectively detoxified, " she said, referring to her

> research, which is

> published in the British Journal of Cancer.

>

> The American and Swedish researchers studied the

> diets of 987 patients with

> either cancer of the colon, bladder, rectum or

> kidney, as well as more than

> 500 healthy people, to determine whether levels of

> acrylamide could be a

> factor in the development of the disease.

>

> They calculated participants' dietary acrylamide

> intake by asking them how

> often they ate a range of different foods, including

> items--such as fried

> potatoes, bread and biscuits--that have been found

> to have medium or high

> levels of acrylamide.

>

> The researchers found no link between the compound

> in food and the risk of

> bladder or kidney cancer, and high amounts of

> acrylamide were associated

> with a reduced risk of bowel cancer.

>

> However, the scientists said the lower bowel-cancer

> risk could be due to

> other factors, such as the high fibre content in the

> foods.

>

> " This study provides preliminary evidence that

> there's less to worry about

> than was thought, " Mucci said.

>

> Scientists believe acrylamide is formed during the

> cooking process, when

> starchy foods like potatoes, rice and cereals are

> fried or baked at high

> temperatures.

>

> " We know that acrylamide can be carcinogenic to

> animals, but this study

> suggests that either the levels in food are too low

> to affect cancer risk,

> or that the body is able to deactivate the chemical

> in some way, " Sir Paul

> Nurse, chief executive of the charity Cancer

> Research UK, said in a

> statement.

>

> SOURCE: British Journal of Cancer 2003;88.

>

>

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.

http://mailplus.