Which Foods Contain The Carcinogen Acrylamide?

Video: Which Foods Contain The Carcinogen Acrylamide?

Video: Which Foods Contain The Carcinogen Acrylamide?
Video: acrylamide in food can cause cancer 2024, December
Which Foods Contain The Carcinogen Acrylamide?
Which Foods Contain The Carcinogen Acrylamide?
Anonim

The carcinogen acrylamide is found in many foods, the consumption of which can lead to the development of tumors. A list of toxic substances was recently announced, which is an annex to the US Environmental Protection Act, which he heads.

Years ago, a special regulation was drawn up requiring food manufacturers to reduce the content of acrylamide in products. However, the fact that it continues to be added is worrying.

Acrylamide on the one hand is a carcinogen - a substance that causes cancer. On the other hand, it is a mutagen - it causes not only cancer but also other diseases, affecting the genetic information of cells.

It was initially thought that the list of acrylamide-containing products was limited to chips-like foods. However, after a number of studies, it turns out that the dangerous substance is contained even in bread, biscuits and other pasta, baked potatoes, snacks, saltines and other cereals, even coffee. This is very surprising, because in these foods it appeared by itself and was not added in production.

French fries
French fries

Another frightening finding about acrylamide in food is that many products contain acrylamide in hundreds even thousands of times the allowable dose in drinking water, in which it is also found.

Starch was thought to be responsible for the formation of the substance. It is found in most pasta products. However, it turns out that acrylamide is obtained at a high temperature from the interaction between the amino acid asparagine and sugars.

The World Health Organization has published a list of products containing acrylamide and its values. Here they are:

Chips - 1343 mcg / kg;

Baked or fried potatoes - 330 mcg / kg;

Chips
Chips

Chicken - 52 mcg / kg;

Fish and seafood - 35 mcg / kg;

Bread - 30 mcg / kg;

Coffee - 200 mcg / kg;

Dry cereals (muesli) - 150 mcg / kg;

Biscuits, sweets, rusks - 142 mcg / kg.

It is not yet clear whether the large doses we ingest of the substance are extremely dangerous. However, it is suspected that in addition to causing tumors, acrylamide also provokes the development of breast cancer.

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