FSANZ: Acrylamide and Food

FSANZ: Acrylamide and Food (updated 31st January 2003): "Acrylamide and food

Updated 31 January 2003

A report of an epidemiological study published in the British Journal of Cancer [January 2003] may help to allay some of the concerns associated with the presence of acrylamide in food. The study has examined retrospectively the level of intake of acrylamide over the last 5 years in a group of cancer patients in Sweden compared with healthy controls. The researchers found “a lack of an excess risk, or any convincing trend, of cancer of the bowel, bladder or kidney in high consumers of fourteen different food items with a high or moderate range of acrylamide content”. While epidemiological studies of this type can never be considered conclusive, the reported results support previous studies which have failed to link acrylamide intake with human cancer.

Several other studies are currently underway around the world that are expected to further clarify the risk to humans from consumption of acrylamide in foods."