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# Acrylamide may cause some breast cancers
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/acrylamide_may_cause_some_breast_cancers_1117130359/
- Published: 2013-11-17T16:58:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:13:06.000Z
- Description: Among 62,573 Dutch women followed for 13 years, never-smokers with the highest acrylamide intake were 31 to 47 percent more likely to develop hormone receptor-positive breast cancer than those with the lowest. No link appeared for overall or receptor-negative breast cancer.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Chemical, Food Safety, #vivvo-import

Sunday Nov 17, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study in *Breast Cancer Research and Treatment* suggests that eating too much of fried foods and bakery products may increase risk of certain breast cancers.

Fried foods and bakery products are found to have high amounts of acrylamide, a potential human carcinogen that has been associated with elevated risk of some cancers. Acrylamide is a known carcinogen that can cause cancer in animals.

The study led by Grete S. Pedersen and colleagues shows that nonsmoking women in the highest quintile of acrylamide intake (median 36.8 ug/d) were 31%, 47% and 43% more likely to develop ER+, PR+ and ER+PR+ breast cancer compared with nonsmoking women in the lowest quintile of acrylamide intake (median 9.5 ug/d).

The study was based on data from 62,573 women aged 55 to 69 years at baseline who were enrolled in the Netherlands Cohort Study on diet and cancer. During a 13-year follow-up, 2225 incident cases of breast cancer were identified with 43% having hormone receptor status information available.

No association was observed though between intake of acrylamide and risk of overall breast cancer or receptor-negative breast cancer, irrespective of smoking status.

The study concluded "This study showed some indications of a positive association between dietary acrylamide intake and receptor-positive breast cancer risk in postmenopausal never-smoking women. Further studies are needed to confirm or refute our observations."

*Grete S. Pedersen, Janneke G. F. Hogervorst, Leo J. Schouten, Erik J. M. Konings, R. Alexandra Goldbohm, Piet A. van den Brandt, Dietary acrylamide intake and estrogen and progesterone receptor-defined postmenopausal breast cancer risk, Breast Cancer Research and Treatment July 2010, Volume 122, Issue 1, pp 199-210*

Another study published in *Toxicology* suggests that pre-diagnostic exposure to acrylamide may increase death risk from breast cancer in nonsmoking women. Smoking women were not considered because they can have acrylamide from nonfood sources.

The study was intended to examine the association between the levels of acrylamide and glycidamide hemoglobin adducts (AA-Hb and GA-Hb) and mortality in breast cancer cases. 

The study was based on data from 24,697 postmenopausal enrolled in a Danish cohort study between 1993 and 1997\. During the follow-up, 420 were diagnosed with breast cancer before 2001 and 110 died before 2009.

The study shows that among non-smokers, higher concentrations of GA-Hb were correlated with a 63% and 123% increased risk of death from breast cancer and death from ER+ breast cancer, respectively, compared with the lower concentrations.

A similar association was found for AA-Hb. But the association that was statistically significant was only found for ER+ breast cancer. That is, Those with higher concentration of AA-Hb were 31% more likley to die from ER+ breast cancer, compared with those with lower concentrations.

The study concluded "the present study indicates that pre-diagnostic exposure to acrylamide may be related to mortality among breast cancer patients and that this may especially concern the most endocrine related type of breast cancer."

*Olsen A, Christensen J, Outzen M, Olesen PT, Frandsen H, Overvad K, Halkjær J. Pre-diagnostic acrylamide exposure and survival after breast cancer among postmenopausal Danish women. Toxicology. 2012 Jun 14;296(1-3):67-72\. doi: 10.1016/j.tox.2012.03.004\. Epub 2012 Mar 20.*

About acrylamide

Acrylamide is a potential human carcinogen commonly found in foods that have been subject to thermal processing. This chemical is formed through the nonenzymatic browning reaction (also known as Maillard reaction) between reducing sugar glucose and amino acid asparagine.

Studies have shown that antioxidants like bamboo leave preparations and vitamin E can effectively reduce the formation of acrylamide during a cooking process. And dietary supplement allicin, which is found in garlic, can not only reduce the formation of acrylamide in vitro and in vivo, but also can prevent this reactive toxin from reacting with DNA and proteins to cause damage to the liver. (David Liu, PHD)