The principle end use of acrylamide is in water-soluble polymers used as additives for water treatment, enhanced oil recovery, flocculants, paper making aids, thickeners, soil conditioning agents, sewage and waste treatment, ore processing, and permanent-press fabrics.
Acrylamide is a chemical used primarily to make substances called polyacrylamide and acrylamide copolymers. Polyacrylamide and acrylamide copolymers are used in many industrial processes, such as the production of paper, dyes, and plastics, and in the treatment of drinking water and wastewater, including sewage.
Consuming foods containing acrylamide is perfectly acceptable provided that one's diet offers considerable variety. Acrylamide naturally occurs when foods with a concentration of carbohydrates are good at a high temperature, such as frying or baking. Consumers are encouraged to monitor their intake of acrylamide.
There are also concerns that prolonged acrylamide exposure may increase the risk of cancer. In fact, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classify acrylamide as a Group 2A carcinogen. This means that the IARC believe that acrylamide probably causes cancer in humans.
Acrylamide can modify the cysteine residues of presynaptic proteins, thereby significantly reducing the neurotransmitter release, which eventually leads to process degeneration [7,12].
The EU has created a much stricter benchmark for safe levels of acrylamide in food (at least related to the growth of tumors) at 0.17 µg/day per kilogram of body weight. Doing the math, a person weighing 154 lbs (70 kg) could safely consume 26 µg of acrylamide each day.
In addition, 19 of the tunnel workers exposed to the acrylamide suffered damage to their peripheral nervous systems, resulting in headaches, prickling sensations in their limbs, dizziness and nausea.
Nervous system effects such as muscle weakness, numbness in hands and feet, sweating, unsteadiness, and clumsiness were reported in some acrylamide workers. However, most people are not exposed to acrylamide levels high enough to cause these effects.
Suspected human carcinogen (OSHA "select carcinogen") and neurotoxin. The acute toxicity of acrylamide is moderate by ingestion or skin contact. Skin exposure leads to redness and peeling of the skin of the palms.
Air fryers themselves aren't a cause of cancer, but air frying does produce certain compounds such as acrylamide, which is considered a "probable" carcinogen. A carcinogen is a substance capable of causing cancer.
Oats have the second highest acrylamide forming potential of rye, wheat, barley and oats. Several studies have found high levels of acrylamide in oat products that exceed the benchmark limits within the EU.
Among the analyzed samples, the green tea contained low amounts of acrylamide ranged from 10 to 18 μg kg−1, and thus the green tea could be considered as a healthier hot drink.
It's most likely to be found in grains, potatoes or coffee heated to high temperatures. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cites these food sources as having the highest levels of acrylamide when heated to high temperatures: French fries. Potato chips.
Another study also indicated the neurotoxic effects of acrylamide by inducing oxidative stress and apoptotic and inflammatory responses in the microglia in mice.
“Acrylamide forms when foods like potatoes and cereals become crispy and brown. It even forms in roasted coffee beans.” That means acrylamide is in the crunch of potato chips, the crispy edges of French fries, and in toasted snacks and rich roasted coffees. But Stelwagen says it's not as much of a worry as it sounds.
Acrylamide exerts its main potential obesogenic effects through body weight increase, worsening of the levels of obesity-related blood biomarkers, and induction of adipocyte differentiation and adipogenesis.
Potato chips are a popular snack food that is consumed by millions of people around the world. However, they are also one of the most acrylamide-rich foods, with levels that can exceed 1,000 micrograms per kilogram (μg/kg) in some brands.
Acrylamide has been shown to cause cancer in animals exposed to very high doses, and although there is no consistent epidemiological evidence on the effect of acrylamide from food consumption on cancer in humans, both the U.S. National Toxicology Program and the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health ...
Acrylamide is not thought to accumulate in the body at environmental doses, but can covalently bind to form adducts with proteins.
Acrylamide is in all coffee, as an unavoidable product of the Maillard reaction, that wonderful process that causes sugars and amino acids within food to transition to the brown, delicious toasty-roastiness we find in the crust of bread, the seared sides of a steak, a crispy french fry or potato chip, and of course the ...
In fried potatoes and rice, heating and cooking time were found to directly affect the synthesis of acrylamide, with a considerable amount of acrylamide formed at temperatures above 120 °C, primarily at 150 to 180 °C and decreasing at higher degrees (Osman et al., 2015) .
High levels of acrylamide were found in these food items: up to 327 µg/kg for sweet potato baked at 190 °C for 14 min, and 99 µg/kg for carrot baked at 190 °C for 13 min.
High acrylamide exposure was associated with a linearly increased risk of endometrial cancer, particularly in never-smokers. A statistically significant association was found between dietary acrylamide exposure and ovarian cancer (especially in non-smokers).