Dietary acrylamide intake and risk of renal cell carcinoma in two large prospective cohorts.

Abstract

677 Background: Acrylamide, which has been classified as a probable human carcinogen, is formed during the processing and cooking of many commonly consumed, carbohydrate-rich foods. Accumulating evidence suggests that dietary intake of acrylamide intake is not associated with the risk of most cancers in humans. A meta-analysis of five epidemiological studies, however, found a suggestion of an increased risk of kidney cancer with higher acrylamide intakes. We investigated this association in two large, prospective cohorts. Methods: Acrylamide intake was calculated from food frequency questionnaires completed every four years in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS; 1980-2014; n = 88,770) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS; 1986-2014; n = 47,802). Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), adjusting for known and suspected risk factors. Results: We documented 569 incident cases of RCC during follow-up, 337 in women and 232 in men. There was no association between cumulative average acrylamide intake and risk of RCC risk in women (HR for top versus bottom quartile of intake: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.62-1.18; p-value for linear trend across quartiles: 0.42) or men (HR: 1.09; 95% CI: 0.77-1.55; p-trend: 0.96). Baseline acrylamide intake was also unassociated with RCC risk. Acrylamide intake was not associated with risk of fatal RCC, risk among never-smokers, or risk of clear cell RCC. Intake of foods and food groups that are the major contributors to acrylamide intake – breads, baked goods, breakfast cereal, potatoes, and coffee – were likewise not associated with risk of total or fatal RCC in women or in men. Conclusions: Dietary acrylamide was not associated with the risk of RCC in two long-term, prospective cohorts of women and men with updated measures of dietary intakes. This analysis of renal cell carcinoma adds to the body of evidence that dietary acrylamide is not an important risk factor for cancer in humans.