WHO website: What is acrylamide?
Abstract
Background
Acrylamide is a probable human carcinogen formed during cooking of many common foods. Epidemiological studies of acrylamide and breast cancer risk have been null; however, positive associations with ovarian and endometrial cancers have been reported. We studied acrylamide intake and risk of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers in a prospective cohort study.
Methods
We assessed acrylamide intake among 88,672 women in the Nurses' Health Study using food frequency questionnaires administered every four years. Between 1980 and 2006 we identified 6301 cases of invasive breast cancer, 484 cases of invasive endometrial adenocarcinoma, and 416 cases of epithelial ovarian cancer. We used Cox proportional hazards models to study the association between acrylamide and cancer risk.
Results
We found no association between acrylamide intake and breast cancer overall or according to estrogen and progesterone receptor status. We found an increased risk of endometrial cancer among high acrylamide consumers (adjusted relative risk [RR] for highest versus lowest quintile=1.41, 95% CI: 1.01-1.97, p-value for trend=0.03). We observed a non-significant suggestion of increased risk for ovarian cancer overall (RR 1.25, CI: 0.88-1.77, p-trend=0.12), with a significantly increased risk for serous tumors (RR 1.58, CI: 0.99-2.52, p-trend=0.04). Associations did not differ by smoking status.
Conclusions
We observed no association between acrylamide and breast cancer. Risk of endometrial cancer and possibly ovarian cancer was greater among high acrylamide consumers.
Impact
This is the second prospective study to report positive associations with endometrial and ovarian cancers. These associations should be further evaluated to inform public health policy.
