Cancer in your food

It's nothing new if I say that our diet is made up of a high amount of processed foods.  I quite often hear people say, "It seems that nowadays everything gives you cancer!"  It may seem that way, especially if you consider that "everything" refers to the processed foods in our diet.  If your diet is heavily based on processed foods then your chance of getting cancer is much higher than if your diet is based on whole foods and generally a plant based diet with a little animal protein.

Just over 10 years ago, scientists discovered that a cancer-causing and potentially neurotoxic chemical called acrylamide is created when foods that are carbohydrate-rich are cooked at high temperatures and the cooking method doesn't matter, whether they are baked, fried, roasted, toasted or grilled the result is the same.

A chemical reaction is formed between sugars and an amino acid called asparagine during high temperature cooking.  Acrylamide can form in many foods cooked or processed at temperatures above 100ºC (212ºF), but the most vulnerable are the carbohydrate-rich foods and on the whole the chemical is formed when food is cooked enough to produce a fairly dry and browned surface.  Therefore, it can be found in the following foods:

• Potatoes: chips, crisps and other roasted or fried potato foods
• Bread crusts, toast, crisp bread, roasted breakfast cereals and a variety of processed snacks
• Coffee: roasted coffee beans and ground coffee powder.  Chicory based coffee substitutes aren't free of it either and have a surprisingly 2-3 times more acrylamide than real coffee.

According to a study carried out in 1988 by the Agency for Research on Cancer considers acrylamide a "probable human carcinogen"

“The data show that acrylamide is capable of inducing genotoxic, carcinogenic,

developmental, and reproductive effects in tested organisms. Thus, acrylamide may pose more than a neurotoxic health hazard to exposed humans.

Acrylamide is a small organic molecule with very high water solubility. These properties probably facilitate its rapid absorption and distribution throughout the body. After absorption, acrylamide is rapidly metabolized, primarily by glutathione conjugation, and the majority of applied material is excreted within 24 hours... Acrylamide can bind to DNA... which has implications for its genotoxic and carcinogenic potential.”

A study published in 2007 associated a higher intake of dietary acrylamide with an increased risk of endometrial and ovarian cancer in postmenopausal women, particularly among non-smokers.  It has also been associated with nerve damage and other neurotoxic effects.

There are currently no guidelines limiting the amount of acrylamide in food itself, although the EPA regulates acrylamide in drinking water and the FDA regulates the amount of acrylamide in materials that can come into contact with food.

So, how much acrylamide is actually present in the foods we eat?  Well the federal limit for acrylamide in drinking water is 0.5 parts per billion, or 0.12 micrograms in a standard glass of water (213 ml approx).  However, a serving of chips (French Fries) about 170mg can contain 60 micrograms of acrylamide - thats roughly 500 times the permitted limit.  Crisps (Potato chips) are very high in acrylamide.  They are, in fact, so high that in 2005 the State of California actually took potato chip makers to court for failing to warn consumers about the health risks of acrylamide in their products.  A settlement was eventually reached in 2008 when Fito-Lay and several other crisp makers agreed to reduce the levels of acrylamide to 275 parts per billion by 2011, that is low enough to avoid needing a cancer warning on the package but still does not eradicate the problem.


A report published in 2005 titled "How Potato Chips Stack Up: Levels of Cancer-Causing Acrylamide in Popular Brands of Potato Chips," by the California-based Environmental Law Foundation (ELF), underlined the dangers of these foods.  The report states that ALL the potato chip products tested exceeded the legal limit of acrylamide by at least 39 times, and as much as 910 times the limit.  Surprisingly, baked chips which are considered more healthy, can contain MORE than 3 TIMES the level of acrylamide in regular chips, according to data from the US FDA.

So, as I have said many many times before, it's time to get back to basics.  Back to our ancestors way of eating... lots of fruit and vegetables, raw nuts, a little animal protein here and there and keep it all as raw as possible.  Forget anything processed and that includes bread!  The flour has been so refined before it is turned into bread that there is very little nutritional value left - if any.