Everything about Acrylamide totally explained
| Section2 =
| Section3=
| EUIndex=616-003-00-0
| NFPA-H=3
| NFPA-F=2
| NFPA-R=2
| RPhrases=,,,
,,,
,
| SPhrases=,
| FlashPt=138 °C
| Autoignition=424 °C}}
}}
The
chemical compound acrylamide (acrylic
amide) has the
chemical formula C3H5NO. Its
IUPAC name is
2-propenamide. It is a white odourless
crystalline solid, soluble in
water,
ethanol,
ether and
chloroform. Acrylamide is incompatible with acids, bases, oxidizing agents, iron and iron salts. It decomposes non-thermally to form
ammonia and thermal decomposition produces
carbon monoxide,
carbon dioxide and oxides of
nitrogen.
Most acrylamide is used to synthesize
polyacrylamides which find many uses as water-soluble
thickeners. These include use in
wastewater treatment,
gel electrophoresis (
SDS-PAGE),
papermaking,
ore processing, and the manufacture of
permanent press fabrics. Some acrylamide is used in the manufacture of
dyes and the manufacture of other
monomers.
Acrylamide was accidentally discovered in foods in April 2002 by scientists in Sweden when they found large amounts of the chemical in
starchy foods, such as
potato chips,
French fries and bread that had been heated (production of acrylamide in the heating process was shown to be temperature-dependent). It wasn't found in food which had been boiled nor in foods that were not heated.. Unfortunately, the Davis publication is no longer available online, although references to it can be found in numerous successive papers. The technique is widely accepted today, and is still an extremely common
protocol in
molecular biology labs.
Acrylamide also has many other uses in the modern molecular biology laboratory, including the use of
linear polyacrylamide (LPA) as a
carrier which aids in the precipitation of small amounts of
DNA. Many laboratory supply companies sell LPA as a commercial product for just this use.
Occurrence in daily lifestyle
Acrylamide in
fried or
baked goods is produced by the reaction between
asparagine and
reducing sugars (
fructose,
glucose, etc.) or reactive
carbonyls at temperatures above 120
oC. Acrylamide in
olives and
prune juice comes through another process. It has been suggested that environmental pathways, such as the breakdown of the
herbicide glyphosate (Roundup), are sources too.
Smoking is also a major acrylamide producer. Estimates for the proportion in the diet coming from the consumption of
coffee range from twenty to forty percent. Acrylamide can't be created by boiling, and very few uncooked foods contain any detectable amounts.
Browning during
baking,
frying or
deep-frying will produce acrylamide and over-cooking of foods will produce large amounts of acrylamide. Acrylamides can also be created during
microwaving.
The
FDA has analyzed a variety of U.S. food products for levels of acrylamide since 2002, these results can be found
here
.
Reduction of acrylamide formation
Storage
In the case of potatoes for instance the storage temperature shouldn't drop below 8°C. When the temperature is as low as 4°C the
fructose content rises sharply, so that the acrylamide formation during baking or deep-frying will be higher.
Raw Material
New varieties of
potatoes are being bred that produce less or no acrylamide.
Production methods
In many cases it's advisable to lower the maximum temperature during baking. Also new production methods such as
vacuum frying may lower the acrylamide formation.
When
silicone is used as a foam inhibitor in deep-frying
fats in the
food industry the acrylamide content is doubled.
Recipe formulation
Asparaginase, a naturally-occurring enzyme, can be added to bread or potato mixtures to reduce formation of acrylamide during cooking.
Potential health risk
There is evidence that exposure to large doses can cause damage to the male
reproductive glands. Direct exposure to pure acrylamide by inhalation, skin absorption, or eye contact irritates the exposed
mucous membranes, for example the
nose, and can also cause
sweating,
urinary incontinence,
nausea,
myalgia,
speech disorders,
numbness,
paresthesia, and weakened legs and hands. In addition, the acrylamide monomer is a potent
neurotoxin, causing the disassembly or rearrangement of
intermediate filaments. Ingested acrylamide is metabolised to a chemically reactive
epoxide,
glycidamide.
Cancer
Acrylamide reliably produces various types of
cancer in experimental mice and rats. However, studies in human populations have failed to produce consistent results, and it remains unclear whether this is due to a reduced risk in a natural setting or the methodological difficulties inherent in such studies. For example, it might be difficult to isolate the effects of acrylamide because it's so ubiquitous in Western diets. A Dutch study on 62000 women over an 11 year period has recently concluded that those who ingest more acrylamide in their regular diet are twice as likely to develop
endometrial or
ovarian cancer.
Public awareness
On
April 24 2002, the Swedish National Food Administration (
Livsmedelsverket) announced that acrylamide can be found in
baked and
fried starchy
foods, such as
potato chips,
breads and
cookies. Concern was raised mainly because of the
carcinogenic effects of acrylamide. This was followed by a strong but short-lived interest from the press. On
2005-08-26,
California attorney general Bill Lockyer filed a lawsuit against top makers of
french fries and
potato chips to warn consumers of the potential risk from consuming acrylamide.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Acrylamide'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://acrylamide.totallyexplained.com">Acrylamide Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
