Eat barbecue, chips and burnt bread containing acrylamide, can it cause cancer?

What causes cancer? It is a question that many people around the world care about. Scientists have conducted many studies to answer this question.

Recently, the International Journal of Cancer has published a study with content, drinking hot tea over 60 degrees Celsius often may be at risk of esophageal cancer. Another study warned of an increased incidence of colon cancer due to high consumption of red meat. High sugar foods provide fuel for tumor cells to grow.

One of the most popular questions that have been mentioned for more than 15 years is burnt fried and baked fried foods containing acrylamide, the favorite food of many people from adults to young children, causing cancer. letter or not.

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What is acrylamide and does it cause cancer?

Acrylamide (or acryl amide - molecular formula C3H5NO) is a chemical compound present in foods, especially starchy foods such as bread, biscuits and chips. More than one-third of calories consumed in Europe and the United States contain this compound.

Food that is fried, baked or processed at high temperatures will produce a small amount of acrylamide. This chemical is present on the side of the scorched meat on the stove grilling the brown bark of bread or the fringe of chips.

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Molecular formula C3H5NO of acrylamide (or acryl amide).

Acrylamide is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a group of human carcinogenic compounds. However, according to research by scientists, this compound causes cancer in mice at high doses, higher than human exposure through food.

Acrylamide, according to the latest assessment by scientists at the US Food and Science and Technology Institute, is only considered "a sign of health concern".

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Acrylamide is classified in group 2A, the factor "can cause cancer in humans" in the classification of IARC compounds.

This means that scientists still cannot conclude that acrylamide causes cancer. But many people are still concerned about the presence of acrylamide in food for children, who are more vulnerable than adults.

In 2012, a study in Poland showed that children exposed to acrylamide were dozens of times higher than the average exposure of the entire population.

Acrylamide toxic dose

A substance itself does not decide whether it is toxic or not, the dose is the decisive factor. If exposed to acrylamide in high concentrations and for a long time, we may get sick but the amount of acrylamide in a dinner with potato chips is not yet capable of killing you.

The limit of occupational exposure to acrylamide is at the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health at 0.03 mg / m3 in an 8-hour working day. But those who were exposed to acrylamide at average concentrations, those who worked in the food industry, still did not show higher rates of cancer.

Professor David Spiegelhalter at Cambridge University said that an adult can consume up to 160 times more acrylamide than average. But even so, the virologists still believe that this acrylamide dose is still in a range that cannot increase the risk of cancer for mice.

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In short, at the moment scientists still have not given the exact evidence that consuming acrylamide from eating chips, bread or baked goods . is likely to cause cancer risk. However, to ensure health, you should consider consuming red meat and starch calories.