Does the acrylamide in French fries, potato and tortilla chips cause cancer?

It's not the fat in the chips, it's the acyrylamide that's carcinogenic. The fat might cause hardening of the arteries if it's a trans-fat, but it's the acrylamide in chips formed from cooking with high heat that could cause cancer.

The problem is that no mass media sources to date are broadcasting how high the levels of acrylamide in potato and tortilla chips actually need to be in order to cause cancer in humans and animals. According to the May, 2003 article, "Do Potato Chips Cause Cancer?" by the American Institute for Cancer Research, back in 2002, "...Swedish researchers announced the presence of acrylamide, a known carcinogen, in potato chips and French fries."

"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has since released new data confirming its presence in certain U.S. food products. Even in reduced-fat versions of those foods that are either baked or fried with a fat substitute, acrylamide shows up."

Acrylamide forms during high-temperature cooking of certain high-carbohydrate foods. But the controversy lies in the fact that no one yet knows how high the level of acrylamide has to be for a human to get cancer from eating that chemical formed in foods. The animals that came down with cancer had been fed large doses of acrylamide.

You can substitute vegetables and fruits instead of chips and fries and cut down your salt intake at the same time. The panic started when an article appeared on April 26, 2002, Great Potato Chip Scare by Steven Milloy, Fox News. The article noted that Swedish reseachers at Stockholm University announced that "baking or frying carbohydrate-rich foods, such as potatoes and cereals, formed acrylamide." Scientists know that "acrylamide is a substance classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a 'probable human carcinogen.'"

According to an article published online in the SF Gate on August 2, 2008, "Lawsuit over potato chip ingredient settled," Frito-Lay, Kettle Foods, maker of Kettle Chips, and Lance Inc., maker of Cape Cod Chips have agreed to reduce the levels of a acrylamide, a cancer-causing chemical in their products in a settlement of a state lawsuit, according to Attorney General Jerry Brown.

Procter & Gamble agreed in January 2008 to reduce acrylamide by 50 percent in Pringles potato chips. McDonald's, KFC, Wendy's and Burger King agreed in 2007 to post warnings about acrylamide in chips and fries.

The problem is that with all the law suits, when you bake your own chips at home, you're still getting the acrylamide in your home-made food that's heated to taste crispy, including the toast you make from bread. Acrylamide is produced when you cook at home any starchy food such as bread--and especially potatoes heated to high temperatures above 248 degrees F.

The chemical, acrylamide has another use in industry--treating sewage. Nearly 20 years ago, no one suspected acrylamide could be found in food. Back in 1990, California listed acrylamide as a cancer-causing substance under Proposition 65. That initiative, passed in 1986, requires companies to post warnings of exposure to substances that cause cancer or birth defects.

Interestingly, researchers could have back-engineered acrylamide to find out how it is chemically formed in the first place. They then would have realized that it's also formed by heating starchy foods at high temperatures. That's why a raw vegetable, grain, and fruit diet is so helpful.

With all the lawsuits, you have industry either putting warnings on labels in restaurants that many people don't look at, or you have reduced levels, but the big one to figure out is to how to produce crispy, fried foods without heating starchy foods to high temperatures that form the cancer-causing acrylamide in food in the first place.

What you have today is that the chemical is still in the food, such as tortilla chips, French fries, and potato chips as well as other crispy fried foods at high temperatures. Toast and baked foods still heat up the starch. So you have the same problem.

You're only told by the FDA not to "over-brown" your potatoes. No restrictions on acrylamides in foods in the US have been ever imposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. If you inquire, you're told that acrylamides in food are still being studied. But exactly who's studying acrylamides in foods, and what are they finding lately?

With all the law suits, the settlement noted in the media reports that potato chip producers are required "to reduce acrylamide to 275 parts per billion in three years, a low enough level to avoid a Prop. 65 warning label," according to the August 2, 2008 San Francisco Gate article, Lawsuit Over Potato Chip Ingredient Settled, by Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer.

You should know that when you eat Frito-Lay chips, the acrylamide reduction amounts to 20 percent. For Kettle Chips, the acrylamide reduction is 87 percent, according to the article, Lawsuit Over Potato Chip Ingredient Settled, which noted that the figures came from Brown's office. As for most Cape Cod chips, "no reduction is needed," but Cape Cod Robust Russets, requires a warning label, according to the attorney general as reported in the article, Lawsuit Over Potato Chip Ingredient Settled. The companies could have removed the acrylamide. But as a result of the law suit, according to the article, Lawsuit Over Potato Chip Ingredient Settled, "The companies also agreed to pay nearly $2 million in penalties and costs."

What can you do? If you fry your potatoes at home at high temperatures or bake your own chips in the oven from cut up pieces of tortillas or sliced vegetables, the acrylamide results. Same when you toast your bread. But what you need to find out is how high or low can the temperatures go before acyrlamide forms. If you knew, you could turn down the heat or eat your vegetables raw or lightly steamed.

Also, even if the levels of acrylamide in any one food are low, do they build up in your body during a lifetime of eating foods that are toasted, fried, or baked at high temperatures above 248 degrees F? Or are they flushed out of your body by other foods such as a raw vegetables, fruits, and raw nuts diet? Is there really a safe level of acrylamide in food? Wouldn't you like to know? View the uTube video at the bottom of this article.

For more info: browse my books, How Nutrigenomics Fights Childhood Type 2 Diabetes & Weight Issues (2009) or Predictive Medicine for Rookies (2005). Or see my books, How to Safely Tailor Your Foods, Medicines, & Cosmetics to Your Genes (2003) or How to Interpret Family History & Ancestry DNA Test Results for Beginners (2004) or How to Open DNA-driven Genealogy Reporting & Interpreting Businesses. (2007). Check out my free audio lecture on Internet Archive, How nutrigenomics fights childhood type 2 diabetes. Photo Credits: Flickr.com.

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