Breast cancer and Acrylamide in food

Acrylamide - a potentially cancer-causing chemical found in some carbohydrate-rich foods appears to not raise the risk of breast cancer.The chemical, acrylamide, gained notoriety several years ago when it was discovered that the suspected human carcinogen is present in high levels in some popular snack foods, like potato chips, French fries and crackers. Other sources include teething biscuits, sweet potatoes, peanut butter, fast-food chicken nuggets, bottled prune juice and black olives.Acrylamide appears to form when certain carbohydrate-rich foods are heated to high temperatures, through frying, baking or broiling. Previous studies have proved no connection between acrylamide and breast cancer. However, researchers from America studied 61,433 women free from breast cancer to examine the association between acrylamide intake for long period and breast cancer. The data regarding their dietary acrylamide intake and incidence of breast cancer was collected to estimate the women's overall acrylamide intake.A total of 2,952 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed after a follow-up of 17 years. But those with the highest acrylamide intake were no more likely to develop the disease than women with the lowest intake.The findings suggest that acrylamide from foods does not promote breast cancer.The investigators found no connection between long-term acrylamide intake and the risk of breast cancer, at least not within the ranges of acrylamide consumed by the subjects.