Acrylamide - The Harmful Substance In Pasta

A list of foods whose consumption can lead to the development of tumors has recently been published. What is special about all of them is that they contain the substance acrylamide.
 

A list of toxic substances has been officially submitted, which is an annex to the US Environmental Protection Act.
A special ordinance has been prepared for food producers to reduce the content of acrylamide in products.
The EU is proposing that acrylamide be included in the group of substances of very high concern. Thus, acrylamide enters two groups of substances harmful to humans: as a carcinogen - a substance that causes cancer and as a mutagen - it causes not only cancer but also other diseases, affecting the genetic information of cells.
 

Even scientists were surprised that the list of acrylamide-containing products was not just made up of chips-like foods. The dangerous substance is found even in bread, biscuits and other pasta, baked potatoes, dry snacks, saltines and other cereals, even coffee. The shock comes from the fact that even scientists did not understand how this substance is formed. It took them half a year to complete this task.
 

Until 2002, no one suspected the presence of acrylamide in food. Until then, the substance was known to the extent that it had genotoxic properties and damaged genes. It was known to be found in some plastic packaging, in cigarette smoke and in small amounts in water. In water, its amount is strictly controlled.
 

Researchers at the University of Stockholm have found that many products contain acrylamide in hundreds even thousands of times the permissible dose in drinking water.
 

The first version of how the substance is formed is that acrylamide is formed from starch, as it is found in many pasta products.
However, it turns out that acrylamide is obtained at high temperatures from the interaction between the amino acid asparagine and sugars.


The World Health Organization publishes a list of products containing acrylamide: (μg / kg)

• chips - 1343,
• baked or fried potatoes - 330,
• cafe - 200,
• dry cereals (muesli) - 150,
• biscuits, sweets, rusks - 142,
• chicken - 52,
• fish and seafood - 35,
• bread - 30.

Scientists are divided over the harms of acrylamide. According to some, since acrylamide is not so harmful, since we ingest much more of it than we thought. Others argue the opposite, arguing with the results of recent research on mice that develop tumors as a result of eating foods containing the dangerous substance. The study is Swedish. It is suspected that this carcinogen provokes the development of breast cancer.


Last year, a Danish study found that women who preferred acrylamide products were twice as likely to develop breast cancer. The study is convincing among the scientific community, as it receives the results not only from the survey in question, but after blood tests of the content of acrylamide in the body of women included in the test.
Acrylamide has been shown to increase the risk of ovarian cancer by 79%, uterine cancer by 28% and kidney cancer by 59%.


In recent years, ways have been discovered to prepare the products so as to reduce the content of acrylamide in them. For example, enzymes have been discovered that alter asparagine, and once that amino acid is missing, the harmful substance acrylamide cannot be formed. Special yeast, vitamin B3, polyphenols, rosemary extract, citric and other food acids can reduce the synthesis of acrylamide. Refraining from eating fruit is also beneficial - it turns out that fructose actively forms the dangerous substance.
 

Research by the European Food Standards Agency, which monitors more than 2,000 products, shows that there is a downward trend in the amount of acrylamide in food, but it is unequal. For example, in bread, chips and coffee the harmful substance is now lower, and in biscuits, snacks and french fries - more.


Unfortunately, methods to reduce the amount of acrylamide are industrial, they can not be introduced in the home kitchen. The high temperature, typical for the grill, barbecue, baking, grilling helps the synthesis of acrylamide. So avoiding this type of cooking is one way to avoid the harmful substance as well as reduce the consumption of products that contain more acrylamide.