Scientists cite real concern about acrylamide in food, need for more study
Thu Jun 27, 8:16 PM ET

By CLARE NULLIS, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA - People who consume excessive amounts of french fries and starchy snack foods may be risking not only obesity and heart disease, but cancer as well.

There are growing fears that staples like fries and potato chips contain high levels of a potentially carcinogenic substance called acrylamide.

Scientists after a three-day conference that ended Thursday said the extent of the risk from acrylamide, which is known to cause cancer in animals and may also cause it in humans, is still unclear. They said more studies were also needed on how to reduce it both in the food and catering industry and in cooking methods at home.

"The experts were unanimous and clear that this is a major concern," said Jorgen Schlundt, coordinator of World Health Organization ( news - web sites)'s food safety division.

The closed meeting grouped 23 scientists from universities and national food authorities, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( news - web sites). It was sponsored by the WHO and Food and Agriculture Organization ( news - web sites).

Detailed recommendations were being circulated to governments and other interested parties on Friday.

The scientists participating in the conference stopped short of singling out specific foods which should be avoided.

"We can not give consumers very specific advice such as, 'please avoid eating chips of this and that brand.' This will not be done," said Dieter Arnold of Germany's Federal Institute of Health Protection for Consumers.

Instead, Arnold said, experts agreed people should eat a balanced and varied diet including fruits and vegetables and should eat only moderate amounts of fried and fatty food.

A study by Sweden's National Food Administration earlier this year found high levels of acrylamide in french fries, some brands of potato chips, cookies, breakfast cereal and crispbread and some breads cooked at high temperatures.

Subsequent studies in Norway, Britain and Switzerland backed up these findings.

A survey by the U.S.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest this week found the amount of acrylamide in a large order of fast-food French fries was at least 300 times more than what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( news - web sites) allows in a glass of water.

The Snack Food Association ? which represents manufacturers of some of the foods heavily implicated ? said it was pleased that WHO stopped short of recommending that consumers change their diet and that the risks were overstated.

"We have been cooking food at high temperatures for more than 360,000 years," the association said. "The best advice for consumers is to continue to eat a moderate amount of a wide variety of foods, including potato chips."

Breakfast cereals coated in sugar and then processed seemed to contain higher levels of acrylamide, Arnold said. French fries cooked until they were brown rather than just lightly done also contained bigger levels.

Schlundt said a single meal of french fries wouldn't make much difference, while a lifetime of them probably would.

"The longer you eat it, the more that is in the food, the greater the risk," he said.

Acrylamide, sometimes used in water-treatment facilities, is a known carcinogen in rats. There is no conclusive proof that it causes cancer in humans. It also a known neurotoxin, which can cause nerve damage resulting in a weakness in the hands and feet.

WHO and FAO officials stressed that more research was needed to gain a complete picture. So far 200 analyses have been completed worldwide in North America and Europe. The U.N. bodies now want to set up a network ( news - external web site) to channel data from governments, universities and industry into one central database and to include research from Africa, Asia and South America.

"Whenever analysis has been repeated in different laboratories on the same sample using the same method or different methods, they came to the same results. We unanimously concluded the Swedish results are valid and have to be taken seriously," Arnold said.

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