False Alarm - It's ok, you can eat your chips and fried foods now!

http://msnbc.com/news/865396.asp?0cv=CB20

Make up your minds!!!!

 

Fatty, fried food not as carcinogenic?

Results of earlier animal studies may not apply to humans




Jan. 28 — Fatty, fried foods such as potato chips and fries may contain a substance that can cause cancer in animals but the levels are not high enough to increase the risk of the disease in humans, researchers said on Tuesday. Swedish scientists sparked a worldwide food scare last year when they found high levels of acrylamide, a possible human carcinogen, in high carbohydrate foods including crackers, certain cereals and cooked potatoes.

BUT NEW research by scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden — the first to look at acrylamide in terms of human diet and cancer risk — found it may not be as dangerous as people have been led to believe.
“There was a lot of concern in the public that was raised from the initial findings of acrylamide in food,” said Dr. Lorelei Mucci of the Harvard School of Public Health.
“This study provides some evidence that the amount of acrylamide people are taking in is probably not sufficient to increase the risk of cancer,” she told Reuters.
Although conclusions about the health risks of acrylamide cannot be drawn from one study, Mucci said the research is a starting point that could help to address some of the concerns raised by Sweden’s National Food Administration, a government food safety agency.
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HIGHER DOSES GIVEN TO ANIMALS
Acrylamide, a colorless compound used in manufacturing processes and in laboratories and in water purification, is labeled as a probable carcinogen based on data from animal research.
But Mucci said doses given in animal studies were several times higher than what humans would be exposed to through diet or other sources.
“These data suggest the doses of acrylamide people are taking in can be effectively detoxified,” she said, referring to her research, which is published in the British Journal of Cancer.
The American and Swedish researchers studied the diets of 987 patients with either cancer of the colon, bladder, rectum or kidney and 500 healthy people to determine whether levels of acrylamide could be a factor in the development of the disease.

They looked at the consumption of 14 different foods that have medium or high levels of acrylamide among the two groups and the total dose of acrylamide.
There was no link between the compound in food and the risk of bladder or kidney cancer and high amounts of acrylamide were associated with a reduced risk of bowel cancer. But the scientists said that could be due to other factors such as the high fiber content in the foods.
“This study provides preliminary evidence that there’s less to worry about than was thought,” Mucci added.
Scientists believe the compound is formed during the cooking process when starchy foods like potatoes, rice and cereals are fried or baked at high temperatures.

“We know that acrylamide can be carcinogenic to animals, but this study suggests that either the levels in food are too low to affect cancer risk, or that the body is able to deactivate the chemical in some way,” Paul Nurse, the Nobel Prize winning chief executive of the charity Cancer Research UK, said in a statement.

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Well, at least I can stop steaming my potatoes, bread and other carbs.