What to know about acrylamide and your risk for cancer

Acrylamide is a chemical found in tobacco smoke and commonly used in manufacturing to make paper, plastic goods, dyes, and adhesives. Many large health organizations, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and International Agency for Research on Cancer, consider acrylamide to be a probable carcinogen, or cancer-causing substance.

Sometimes, acrylamide is also found in food that’s been heated to high temperatures. Most often, acrylamide is present in potato products like French fries and chips, as well as starchy foods like bread and breakfast cereals. Coffee, canned olives, and dried fruits are other sources.

Though it’s likely always been present in them, acrylamide was first identified in foods in 2002. Since then, some lab animal studies have suggested a link between acrylamide in foods and certain types of cancer, including cancers of the ovaries (two reproductive organs that store and release eggs during the menstrual cycle) and endometrium (lining of the uterus).

Public health officials have taken these studies seriously. In 2017, for example, the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the British equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), launched a campaign in the United Kingdom warning against burned toast and roasted potatoes.

Here’s what’s known about the connection between cancer and acrylamide in food.

More research needed

Frequently, the results of animal studies can’t be extended directly to humans—and the effect of acrylamide in food on cancer risk is one example. While studies on rats have hinted at a link, most research on people hasn’t found a relationship. For example:

• A 2023 review of 63 studies published in the journal Foods concluded it would be difficult to find a connection between acrylamide and human cancer. Additionally, researchers found no proof that exposure to acrylamide in food affected the body’s organs or systems.
• The amount of exposure to acrylamide in food—whether it was low or high—made no difference in cancer risk in a 2022 analysis published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.
• In a 2019 study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers concluded that acrylamide in food did not make a large contribution to public health cancer risk.

While scientists did not find a link, neither could they conclude that no link existed. Instead, they suggested more study was needed. This view is generally stated by multiple health organizations, including the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Cancer Society (ACS).

Reducing your acrylamide intake

Though acrylamide is regulated in drinking water, it’s not regulated in food. If you would like to lower acrylamide in your diet, some ways to reduce it include:

• Boiling, steaming, and microwaving starchy foods instead of frying, baking, or broiling them. The FDA emphasizes, however, that there’s no need to stop eating fried or baked foods altogether.
• Before you fry or roast potatoes, dip thin slices in water for 15 to 30 minutes. Make sure to dry them entirely before cooking to prevent oil splattering. (They’ll cook better dried, too.)
• Toast bread and cook potatoes to a light brown instead of a darker brown.
• Keep raw potatoes out of the refrigerator.

In terms of cancer risk, food contributes much less than tobacco. People who smoke have three to five times more signs of acrylamide in their bodies than non-smokers, according to the NCI. One of the best ways to lower your acrylamide intake is to quit smoking and avoid secondhand cigarette smoke. It can also improve your overall health and lower your risk for a large number of medical conditions.