Acrylamide not seen to affect colon cancer risk
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The media gave a lot of space last year to the possible cancer risk posed by high levels of acrylamide in cooked and especially fried snacks like potato chips, pretzels and popcorn. However, a new study has found that dietary intake of acrylamide does not appear to be associated with colorectal cancer in women
“There has been considerable discourse about whether exposure to acrylamide in foods could increase the risk of human cancer,” Dr. Lorelei A. Mucci, of Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues write in the International Journal of Cancer. “Acrylamide is classified as a probable human carcinogen, and animal studies have demonstrated an increased incidence of tumors in rats exposed to very high levels.”
The researchers examined the association between acrylamide in food and the risk of colon and rectal cancers using data from the Swedish Mammography Cohort, which included 61,467 women enrolled between 1987 and 1990. It’s the first large, forward-looking study to investigate this relationship.
A total of 504 cases of colon cancer and 237 cases of rectal cancer occurred during follow-up through 2003.
The subjects’ average intake of acrylamide through diet was 24.6 micrograms per day. The greatest contributors of dietary acrylamide were coffee (44 percent), fried potato products (16 percent), crisp bread (15 percent), and other breads (12 percent).
No association was observed between acrylamide intake and the risk of colorectal cancer. Comparing the highest and the lowest intake of acrylamide, the risk for any form of colorectal cancer varied by no more than 10 percent, Mucci’s team reports.
“In light of the null findings of this and other research, an important question is why the epidemiologic data on dietary acrylamide thus far seem to contradict data from animal experiments and risk assessment models,” they add.
Although no single study can provide the final answer on the effects of acrylamide, the researchers point out, this and other studies “suggest that acrylamide intake in the amounts taken in through the diet do not increase the risk of colorectal cancer.”
SOURCE: International Journal of Cancer, January 1, 2005.
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