Abstract
Since April 2002, when the Swedish National Food Administration first reported its finding of elevated levels of the substance acrylamide in commonly consumed foods (Swedish National Food Administration, 2002), there has been considerable debate about the health effects of dietary exposure to acrylamide. In particular, researchers have speculated on whether the amount of acrylamide consumed through the typical diet could increase the risk of cancer in humans. In this paper, we review the epidemiological data to date examining dietary acrylamide in relation to cancer risk. We highlight the strengths and limitations of using epidemiology to address this public health question. Finally, we provide an overview of future directions of epidemiological research on the health effects of dietary acrylamide.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 2002, Exploratory Data on Acrylamide in Foods, US Food and Drug Administration, http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/acrydata.html
Dybing, E., and Sanner, T., 2003, Risk assessment of acrylamide in foods, Toxicol. Sci. 75:7–15.
Friedman, M., 2003, Chemistry, biochemistry and safety of acrylamide. A review, J. Agric. Food Chem. 51:4504–4526.
Friedman, M. A., Dulak, L. H., and Stedham, M. A., 1995, A lifetime oncogenicity study in rats with acrylamide, Fundam. Appl. Toxicol. 27:95–105.
Hagmar, L., and Tornqvist, M., 2003, Inconclusive results from an epidemiological study on dietary acrylamide and cancer, Br. J. Cancer 89:774–775; author reply 775–776.
Hagmar, L., Tornqvist, M., Nordander, C., Rosen, I., Bruze, M., Kautiainen, A., Magnusson, A. L., Malmberg, B., Aprea, P., Granath, F., and Axmon, A., 2001, Health effects of occupational exposure to acrylamide using hemoglobin adducts as biomarkers of internal dose, Scand. J. Work Environ. Health 27:219–226.
International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1994, IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogen Risk to Humans: Some Industrial Chemicals, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon.
Johnson, K. A., Gorzinski, S. J., Bodner, K. M., Campbell, R. A., Wolf, C. H., Friedman, M. A., and Mast, R. W., 1986, Chronic toxicity and oncogenicity study on acrylamide incorporated in the drinking water of Fischer 344 rats, Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 85:154–168.
Kjuus, H., Goffeng, L. O., Heier, M. S., Sjoholm, H., Ovrebo, S., Skaug, V., Paulsson, B., Tornqvist, M., and Brudal, S., 2004, Effects on the peripheral nervous system of tunnel workers exposed to acrylamide and N-methylolacrylamide, Scand. J. Work Environ. Health 30:21–29.
Konings, E. J., Baars, A. J., van Klaveren, J. D., Spanjer, M. C., Rensen, P. M., Hiemstra, M., Kooij, J. A. v., and Peters, P. W., 2003, Acrylamide exposure from foods of the Dutch population and an assessment of the consequent risks, Food Chem. Toxicol. 41:1569–1579.
Marsh, G. M., Lucas, L. J., Youk, A. O., and Schall, L. C., 1999, Mortality patterns among workers exposed to acrylamide: 1994 follow up, Occup. Environ. Med. 56:181–190.
Mottram, D. S., Wedzicha, B. L., and Dodson, A. T., 2002, Acrylamide is formed in the Maillard reaction, Nature 419:448–449.
Mucci, L. A., Dickman, P. W., Steineck, G., Adami, H. O., and Augustsson, K., 2003a, Dietary acrylamide and cancer of the large bowel, kidney, and bladder: absence of an association in a population-based study in Sweden, Br. J. Cancer 88:84–89.
Mucci, L. A., Dickman, P. W., Steineck, G., Adami, H. O., and Augustsson, K., 2003b, Dietary acrylamide and cancer risk: additional data on coffee [Letter], Br. J. Cancer 89:775–776.
Mucci, L. A., Lindblad, P., Steineck, G., and Adami, H. O., 2004, Dietary acrylamide and risk of renal cell cancer, Int. J. Cancer 109:774–776.
OEHHA, 2003, Acrylamide Workplan, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, http://www.oehha.ca.gov/prop65/docs_state/arcy12.html
Park, J., Kamendulis, L. M., Friedman, M. A., and Klaunig, J. E., 2002, Acrylamide-induced cellular transformation, Toxicol. Sci. 65:177–183.
Pelucchi, C., Franceschi, S., Levi, F., Trichopoulos, D., Bosetti, C., Negri, E., and La Vecchia, C., 2003, Fried potatoes and human cancer, Int. J. Cancer 105:558–560.
Ruden, C., 2004, Acrylamide and cancer risk—expert risk assessments and the public debate, Food Chem. Toxicol. 42:335–349.
Schabacker, J., Schwend, T., and Wink, M., 2004, Reduction of acrylamide uptake by dietary proteins in a caco-2 gut model, J. Agric. Food Chem. 52:4021–4025.
Schettgen, T., Broding, H. C., Angerer, J., and Drexler, H., 2002, Hemoglobin adducts of ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, acrylonitrile and acrylamide-biomarkers in occupational and environmental medicine, Toxicol. Lett. 134:65–70.
Smith, C. J., Perfetti, T. A., Rumple, M. A., Rodgman, A., and Doolittle, D. J., 2000, “IARC group 2A Carcinogens” reported in cigarette mainstream smoke, Food Chem. Toxicol. 38:371–383.
Sobel, W., Bond, G. G., Parsons, T. W., and Brenner, F. E., 1986, Acrylamide cohort mortality study, Br. J. Ind. Med. 43:785–788.
Stadler, R. H., Blank, I., Varga, N., Robert, F., Hau, J., Guy, P. A., Robert, M. C., and Riediker, S., 2002, Acrylamide from Maillard reaction products, Nature 419:449–450.
Svensson, K., Abramsson, L., Becker, W., Glynn, A., Hellenas, K. E., Lind, Y., and Rosen., J., 2003, Dietary intake of acrylamide in Sweden, Food Chem. Toxicol. 41:1581–1586.
Swedish National Food Administration, 2002, Acrylamide in food, URL: http://www.slv.se/engdefault.asp
Voskuil, D. W., Augustsson, K., Dickman, P. W., van’t Veer, P., and Steineck, G., 1999, Assessing the human intake of heterocyclic amines: limited loss of information using reduced sets of questions, Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. 8:809–814.
WHO/FAO, 2003, Acrylamide, http://www.who.int/fsf/Acrylamide/Acrylamide_index.htm
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Mucci, L.A., Adami, HO. (2005). The Role of Epidemiology in Understanding the Relationship between Dietary Acrylamide and Cancer Risk in Humans. In: Friedman, M., Mottram, D. (eds) Chemistry and Safety of Acrylamide in Food. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 561. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-24980-X_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-24980-X_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-23920-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-24980-3
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)