Researchers rule out link between Acrylamide and risk of breast cancer in women

18/03/05 Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden and the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, USA have found no association between acrylamide intake in foods and risk of breast cancer among Swedish women. The findings appear in the March 16, 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

In 2002, the Swedish National Food Administration first reported the discovery of acrylamide in several commonly eaten foods. The World Health Organization has classified acrylamide as a probable human carcinogen, based chiefly on experimental data. Acrylamide appears to form as a result of a reaction between specific amino acids and sugars found in foods when heated to high temperatures. It’s found in foods such as potato chips, French fries, cereals, breads, biscuits, coffee and meatballs, among others. The researchers found that the amount of acrylamide eaten in the diet did not pose an increased risk of breast cancer among the women in the study. Animal and laboratory studies in the past have shown higher levels of certain types of tumors in rats, including mammary gland tumors, however they were exposed to levels 1,000 to 100,000 times greater than levels humans are exposed to through diet.

Previous research from Karolinska Institutet and Harvard School of Public Health found that dietary levels of acrylamide do not increase the risk of bladder, large bowel and kidney cancer in humans. http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/press/releases/press01282003.html

The research was funded by grants from Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program and the Swedish Cancer Society.

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