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Acrylamide is the result of frying and overcooking food

what is acrylamide

There are many people who love "well-done" food, mainly due to the different flavor. When we overcook food, it becomes too soft, it darkens, it loses its original flavor, nutrients and vitamins. However, this is not the only thing that happens. The formation of a substance called acrylamide occurs when food is heavily cooked and/or fried. This substance is a cause for concern because the consumption of fried or overcooked foods is increasingly common.

Acrylamide is produced through the reaction between sugars and amino acids present in foods that are subjected to high temperatures. This process is called the Maillard reaction and it develops when we cook or fry food at temperatures above 120°C. Due to this reaction, the food changes its tonality, as happens with the "bread on the plate", very present in the breakfast of many Brazilians.

Acrylamide Foods

The substance is present in starchy foods such as potato chips, industrialized French fries, pre-fried French fries, homemade French fries, milk bread, cookies (cookie, stuffed biscuits), mixture for children's porridge, breakfast cereals and coffee snapshot. These foods, when heated and/or fried in the manufacturing process or in home preparation at a temperature above 120°C, release acrylamide.

What are the effects of acrylamide?

Tests indicate neurological changes, tumors (cancer) in the ocular region, morphological changes in nerves and breast tumors at concentrations of 0.2 mg/kg of body weight per day. Although the estimate indicates that a person highly exposed to acrylamide through diet ingests approximately 0.004 mg/kg of body weight per day, the health effects caused by acrylamide should not be ignored, because in recent years the dietary pattern has changed rapidly , tending towards the exaggerated consumption of industrialized and starch-rich products.

What can we do to avoid it?

According to the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), there is no acceptable amount of acrylamide that can be ingested. Although the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is re-evaluating the emergence of acrylamide in food, the substance could be classified as a probable carcinogen to humans.

Given this situation, we have prepared some tips for you:

• Avoid overcooking food (don't let it get brown);
• Reduce your intake of fried foods and processed foods;
• Use steam cooking;
• When you need to cook, use little water and don't cook for a long time;
• When eating potato chips, choose the one made at home;
• To reduce acrylamide formation by 75%, before frying, immerse the potatoes in a solution of vinegar and water (ratio 1:3).

See tips on how to cook food without losing too many nutrients, and still avoid acrylamide formation.