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  • Current issues in dietary acrylamide: formation, mitigation and risk assessment.

Current issues in dietary acrylamide: formation, mitigation and risk assessment.

Journal of the science of food and agriculture (2013-08-14)
Franco Pedreschi, María Salomé Mariotti, Kit Granby
ABSTRACT

Acrylamide (AA) is known as a neurotoxin in humans and it is classified as a probable human carcinogen by the International Agency of Research on Cancer. AA is produced as by-product of the Maillard reaction in starchy foods processed at high temperatures (>120 °C). This review includes the investigation of AA precursors, mechanisms of AA formation and AA mitigation technologies in potato, cereal and coffee products. Additionally, most relevant issues of AA risk assessment are discussed. New technologies tested from laboratory to industrial scale face, as a major challenge, the reduction of AA content of browned food, while still maintaining its attractive organoleptic properties. Reducing sugars such as glucose and fructose are the major contributors to AA in potato-based products. On the other hand, the limiting substrate of AA formation in cereals and coffee is the free amino acid asparagine. For some products the addition of glycine or asparaginase reduces AA formation during baking. Since, for potatoes, the limiting substrate is reducing sugars, increases in sugar content in potatoes during storage then introduce some difficulties and potentially quite large variations in the AA content of the final product. Sugars in potatoes may be reduced by blanching. Levels of AA in different foods show large variations and no general upper limit is easily applicable, since some formation will always occur. Current policy is that practical measures should be taken voluntarily to reduce AA formation in vulnerable foods since AA is considered a health risk at the concentrations found in foods.

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

Supelco
Acrylamide solution, 40% in H2O, for molecular biology
Sigma-Aldrich
Acrylamide solution, 40%, suitable for electrophoresis, sterile-filtered
Supelco
Acrylamide, analytical standard
Sigma-Aldrich
Acrylamide, for Northern and Southern blotting, powder blend
Sigma-Aldrich
Acrylamide, purum, ≥98.0% (GC)
Sigma-Aldrich
Asparaginase from Escherichia coli, lyophilized powder, 100-300 units/mg protein (biuret)
Sigma-Aldrich
Acrylamide, suitable for electrophoresis, ≥99%
Sigma-Aldrich
Acrylamide, suitable for electrophoresis, ≥99% (HPLC), powder
Sigma-Aldrich
Acrylamide, for molecular biology, ≥99% (HPLC)
Supelco
Acrylamide, certified reference material, TraceCERT®, Manufactured by: Sigma-Aldrich Production GmbH, Switzerland