No acrylamide in Boiled/steamed? Don't kid yourself...

One of my brothers is a top ranked chemist here in Texas who runs a large water municipality. Although he is a SAD eater himself, he was telling me some interesting things this past weekend about testing for chemicals in food, acrylamide in particular. I want to broadcast this across the board because awhile back mario was claiming there isn't any acrylamide in boiled food. I disputed this because I'd read differently. It turns out that I had remembered accurately. The test I'd seen had been conducted by the World Health Organization. It did in fact show acrylamide in boiled food. My brother confirmed this and explained the confusion over it. Yes, acrylamide has in fact been found in boiled and steamed food - and at higher concentrations than the EPA deems safe in drinking water. He said the only reason it isn't always found in boiled food is because the two tests used for acrylamide in food are notoriously insensitive. They are almost useless at detecting concentrations below a certain level. The significant detail, though, is that almost every level below those test-detection ranges is still considered a carcinogen by the World Health Organization. As soon as a more sensitive test is had, my brother says - and the EPA has recommended that one be developed due to the "inadequacy" of the current tests - as soon as a sufficient test is available, boiled and steamed will officially join all other cooked foods as containing cancer causing levels of acrylamide. The upshot: anyone eating boiled or steamed food thinking he isn't getting acrylamide, and at carcinogenic levels, is fooling himself... What would you expect an addict to do?

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Permalink Reply by B on May 13, 2010 at 8:31am

so there's toxic levels of acrylamide in anything starchy that's cooked.. no wonder steamed veggies makes me feel like $%^&. makes you wonder also what pasteurization does to foods. would love to read more about this. thx for sharing carl!

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Permalink Reply by Carl Andrews on May 13, 2010 at 9:13am

Yeah, when the new tests are available we're gonna see a big new wave of info on this, count on it...

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Permalink Reply by Carl Andrews on May 13, 2010 at 10:54am

And, yes, B, acrylamide was shown in pasteurized juice from the start.

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Permalink Reply by Courtney on May 18, 2010 at 1:29pm

Awesome info! Love IT! Thanks, Carl! ! :)

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Permalink Reply by ednshell on May 13, 2010 at 8:39am

Wow, very interesting! Makes sense too. Thanks for posting, very good info.!

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Permalink Reply by luke on May 13, 2010 at 8:58am

how do the levels compare to baked/ fried foods?

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Permalink Reply by Carl Andrews on May 13, 2010 at 9:00am

They're low compared to the astronomical levels in fried and baked. But still considerably above what the EPA considers safe in drinking water.

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Permalink Reply by Carl Andrews on May 13, 2010 at 9:04am

Virtually anyone eating cooked food is an addict. Does mario eat cooked food?

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Permalink Reply by Carl Andrews on May 14, 2010 at 4:21am

Which of the two is more common in your experience, Eva? To acknowledge or to deny? I hope you would see that as a rhetorical question. What would the ratio be, say, 95+% deniers?...

Either way, I understand why you saw it as awkward. It was. I just have a terrible time not being flippant - especially when not appropriate...

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Permalink Reply by Bart M on May 13, 2010 at 9:18am

cool! thanks for the info.

Is there any documentation for the WHO study you talk about?

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Permalink Reply by Carl Andrews on May 13, 2010 at 9:35am

Okay, these are the figures for boiled king Edward potatoes from the FAO/WHO report on acrylamide, and presentations at the US FDA Food Advisory Committee meetings (Dec 2002, Feb 2003)

Parts per billion: the <30 figure is given for boiled but the test used isn't specified. Then the two tests that my brother mentioned are listed showing - nd or "none detected" for the LC-MS-MS test and <10.0 for the GC-MS test. The EPA limit for drinking water is 0.12 parts per billion. The LC-Ms-Ms test can't detect below around 10 ppb, anyway, and quite often doesn't catch it below 30. Again, both tests are often missing carcinogenic levels well above EPA standards for safety.

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Permalink Reply by Bart M on May 13, 2010 at 9:38am

Awesome, is this study online somewhere? if so, we could change the wikipedia post for acrylamide which states that:

"Acrylamide cannot be created by boiling"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylamide