Acrylamides in Food

A few years ago, the popular press began reporting on a new danger in some foods.  The danger was a chemical named acrylamide.  The initial theory was that it was caused to form in food by high temperature cooking of foods high in carbohydrates and containing certain amino acids.  A negative opinion formed against fried, roasted and baked foods, especially things like French fries.

This chemical was first observed in foods in April, 2002, although it's probably been present a lot longer.  "Acrylamide belongs to the group of chemicals thought to have no reliably identifiable ‘threshold’ of effects, meaning that very low concentrations will also result in very low risks, but not in zero risk: some risk is always present when the chemical is ingested. However, for these carcinogens, risk is thought to increase with increasing exposure," according to the World Health Organization.


While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not think there is any danger, the U.S. National Institutes of Health sees things a bit differently, stating "high levels of acrylamide in the workplace have been shown to cause neurological damage, e.g., among workers using acrylamide polymers to clarify water in coal preparation plants" and "consider acrylamide to be a 'probable human carcinogen.' "


In January, 2008, Science Daily reported the following breast cancer link to acrylamide in food:

“Animal tests have shown acrylamide to be a carcinogen, but until recently no studies have demonstrated a link between acrylamide in foods and cancer in humans. Ours is the first epidemiological study using biological markers for measuring acrylamide exposure, and the first to report a positive association between acrylamide and breast cancer,” says Henrik Frandsen, senior scientist at the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark. 

The Danish study found that "[t]he findings show a positive association between an increased acrylamide-haemoglobin level and the development of breast cancer after adjustment for smoking behaviour. The risk of breast cancer doubles with a tenfold increase in the acrylamide-haemoglobin level. A tenfold increase in the acrylamide-haemoglobin level corresponds more or less to the difference measured between the women with the lowest and highest exposure."

Nine years later, the FDA and Health Canada are still assessing the danger of acrylamide in foods, and whether they will then make the political decision to actually label it as a health hazard and take some regulatory action.  Meanwhile in 2010 the European Chemical Agency added acrylamide to the list of substances of very high concern.


The World Health Organization (WHO) is somewhat less optimistic.  The WHO notes in their extensive FAQ on acrylamide in food, that it's not known for sure how acrylamide is being formed in foods.  They are likewise cautious about the danger of cancer or other harm.


As is often the case, the picture becomes clearer with time and better research.  Unfortunately, the picture has gotten considerably worse.

As if the herbicide Roundup were not bad enough by itself, Roundup and other herbicides contain polyacrylamide, which breaks down into acrylamide when exposed to heat and light -- say, crops in field on a warm, sunny day.  Professor Joe Cummings points out this problem in a report at the Institute of Science in Society.


It looks suspiciously like Roundup and similar herbicides which use polyacrylamide may well be the primary source of cancer-causing and otherwise toxic acrylamides in food.