The Plight of the Potato: Is Dietary Acrylamide a Risk Factor for Human Cancer?

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Ensuring the safety of the food supply has been one of the major accomplishments of the public health system. Thus, in 2002, when the Swedish National Food Administration reported for the first time that acrylamide was detected in commonly consumed baked and fried foods, the report generated considerable public health alarm ( 1 ). The sense of alarm was based on acrylamide's classification by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a class 2A “probable human carcinogen” ( 2 ) and the realization that acrylamide is ubiquitous in the human diet. It is found in the highest concentrations in French fries and potato chips, but it is also detected in diverse foods such as breads, cereals, cakes, and coffee and cocoa ( 3 ). Indeed, more than one-third of the calories we take in each day come from foods with detectable levels of acrylamide ( 4 ).

Given that the compound is found throughout the food supply, researchers and national food administrations wondered whether dietary acrylamide could be an important human cancer risk factor ( 5 ). The public concern was reflected in the substantial decreases in sales of potato chips in the months immediately following the discovery of acrylamide in foods ( 6 ).