French Fries and Chips Are Not a Risk Factor for the Boobs

Go fat in no time! Foods rich in acrylamide are unlikely to cause you breast cancer. A research made in 100,000 American women, a first of its kind, did not find any link between acrylamide and cancer in humans. "At levels consumed in the diet, it appears unlikely that acrylamide in foods is related to breast cancer risk," said lead researcher Lorelei Mucci, ScD, an epidemiologist at Channing Labs at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

The same team had found that acrylamide was not linked to increased cancer of the colon, rectum, bladder and kidney. "Although we do not rule out that very high levels of acrylamide could cause cancer, it appears that at the levels found in the diet, it is unlikely."

Acrylamide is found in many foods, from French fries to coffee, but especially in fried and baked products like potato chips and other junk food. Animal studies showed acrylamide was carcinogen, but it appears that the one found in the human diet poses no risk. A previous approach on Swedish women, made by the same team, detected no link between dietary acrylamide and cancer. The same has applied to American women.

The new research, made on 100,000 American nurses over 20 years (from 1980 to 2000) monitored periodically their dietary habits. The scientists estimated daily acrylamide consume, while collecting data on the incidence of breast cancer among the women (3,000 cases detected).

Women consuming a lot of acrylamide had the same incidence of breast cancer like those consuming low amounts. "The lack of association between acrylamide and breast cancer was evident across both the U.S. and Swedish study populations despite divergent diets among the two groups. Among U.S. women, the largest source of dietary acrylamide is French fries, while in the Swedish women, the largest source is coffee. Although we found no significant association between acrylamide in the diet and increased risk for breast cancer among the study participants, it is quite important to stress the importance of eating a healthy diet that includes foods low in saturated and trans fats, unlike French fries and potato chips." said Mucci.

Some conclusions were reached o explain the different results in the animal tests. "Animals, for instance, were exposed to acrylamide levels 1000 to 100,000 times higher than found in the human diet. In addition, humans may detoxify acrylamide at levels found in the diet. The story of dietary acrylamide and cancer risk in humans is still emerging, and additional epidemiological studies examining other cancers and in additional populations are warranted, including biomarker assessment of acrylamide exposure," said Mucci.

The research team is now studying a pool of 3,000 Swedish men to see a possible connection between dietary acrylamide and increased risk of prostate cancer.