Acrylamide Doesn't Raise Lung Cancer Risk

Controversial food byproduct even showed protection for women, study finds

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

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TUESDAY, April 28 (HealthDay News) -- Acrylamide, a food byproduct that some research has linked to certain cancers, doesn't raise the risk of lung cancer in men and may even offer slight protection for women, new research suggests.

In a study that included more than 120,000 men and women, Dutch researchers reported that they found no association between lung cancer and acrylamide in men and an 18 percent lower risk in women for a 10-microgram/day average intake of acrylamide.

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"After taking smoking and other lung cancer risk factors into account, it turned out that men who ingested more acrylamide were not more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer than men who consumed less acrylamide," said study author Janneke G.F. Hogervorst, of Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

"Unexpectedly, women who ingested more acrylamide were less likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer than women who ingested less acrylamide," said Hogervorst, who added that since this is the first study to come to this conclusion, the findings need to be replicated before any dietary recommendations could be made.

The findings appear in the April 28 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Acrylamide is a chemical that forms during some high-temperature cooking processes, such as roasting, baking or frying. The compound was first discovered in food in 2002, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Some common foods that contain acrylamide include potato chips, French fries, baked goods, coffee, bread and cookies, according to the study.

Approximately one-third of the calories Americans consume contain acrylamide, according to an accompanying editorial in the same issue of the journal.

Animals exposed to high doses of acrylamide have developed cancer, and although many studies have now been done on humans, the results have been mixed. Karen Collins, a nutrition adviser for the American Institute for Cancer Research, said some studies have found a positive association between acrylamide and renal, ovarian and endometrial cancers, but that the evidence isn't conclusive yet. Other studies have found no association between acrylamide and gastrointestinal, colorectal, bladder, breast and prostate cancers, according to the editorial.

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