Abstract
The health implications of acrylamide in food are a matter of concern based on toxicological studies in rodents, which showed that doses of acrylamide more than 100 times higher than those estimated to result from dietary exposure in humans are carcinogenic; however, the cancer types reported in rodents are species-specific, and whether these results can be extrapolated to humans is still in question. In fact, human epidemiological studies revealed a general lack of association between dietary acrylamide exposure and the incidence of different cancer types. Even occupational exposure to acrylamide, resulting in acrylamide exposure nearly 10 times higher than dietary exposure, did not increase tumor occurrence. Furthermore, the consumption of coffee, which is a main contributor of dietary acrylamide exposure, actually decreases the overall incidence of cancer in humans and afford global health benefits, increasing both lifespan and healthspan on ageing. This paradox clearly illustrates the risk of evaluating an individual molecule independently of its complete food matrix, which may have other components that completely override the effects of the considered molecule.
Highlights
Acrylamide (AA), known as 2-propenamide, is an organic compound that is soluble in water and organic solvents
Coffee intake and the estimated contribution of coffee intake to total AA dietary exposure are considered in most epidemiological studies, with some notable exceptions where an interaction between both factors was evaluated with negative results [51,52,68], it is not clear if the lack of effects of AA intake on cancer risk are associated with a protective effect of coffee
The present review reports that, in addition to the anticarcinogenic effects of coffee observed despite the presence of variable amounts of AA in the beverage due to the roasting process, coffee consumption exerts positive effects on health and well-being and prevents various pathologies throughout many central and peripheral organs
Summary
Acrylamide (AA), known as 2-propenamide, is an organic compound that is soluble in water and organic solvents. Concerns regarding the impact of AA on human health arose after the accidental exposure to AA-containing sealants in Swedish workers [9]. The putative risk of AA to human health is critically dependent, amongst other factors, on the conditions of exposure, i.e., how AA is absorbed and is distributed in the human body as well as its excretion, and this potential toxicodynamic profile is affected by different other constituents present in the diet, such as garlic, blueberries, blackberries, grapes, strawberries, wolfberries, mulberries, wasabi, and green tea [11,12,13,14]. Different constituents of any type of food may overcome and/or counteract any deleterious potential effects of AA on the human body. Despite its AA content, coffee intake offers a paradoxical overall health benefit to adults and elderly people when consumed in moderate amounts
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