Tuesday July 16, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers Prevention suggests that eating fried foods like French fries which are found high in a carcinogen called acrylamide can increase the risk of endometrial and ovarian cancers, but not breast cancer.

Janneke Hogervorst from Maastricht University in Maastricht, the Netherlands and colleagues conducted the observational study and found women with higher intake of acrylamide were at 29 and 78 percent increased risk for endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer respectively, compared with lower intake of acrylamide.

Acrylamide is thermally generated when a food is subject to a heat treatment such as baking and frying processes.  It has been recognized as a human carcinogen.

Enrolled in the study were 62,573 women aged 55 to 69 years participating in the Netherlands Cohort Study on diet and cancer.  During a 11.3-year follow-up, 327, 300 and 1835 cases of endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer and breast cancer were identified, respectively.

Compared with those in the lowest quintile of mean acrylamide intake, which was 8.9 μg/day, women in the highest quintile of intake, which was 40.2 μg/day were at 29% and 78% increased risk for endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer, respectively.  No association was found between acrylamide intake and breast cancer risk.

The researchers concluded "We observed increased risks of postmenopausal endometrial and ovarian cancer with increasing dietary acrylamide intake, particularly among never-smokers. Risk of breast cancer was not associated with acrylamide intake."

Some heat-treated foods such as fries and potato chips can carry more than 400 ppb acrylamide, according to a 2002 survey by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  That is, when a person eats 100 grams of fries, he would have intake of 40 μg of acrylamide. (reporting by Jimmy Downs)