cancer causing chemical found in food.

[LilQueenie]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1379458/Acrylamide-cancer-chemical-processed-foods.html

Anyone else a little unnverved by this. i try to cook homemade as much as possible but it still makes me nervous. Im not usually one to bother with media hype but this one is bothering me. The product is found even in porridge. How can we cook that from scratch? Also found in baby food.

I think the telling sentence is the one close to the bottom of the article:

Dr Angelika Tritscher of the WHO said: ?Acrylamide is clearly carcinogenic. It has been shown to cause cancer in animal studies and we have no reason to think that the same is not true for humans.
?We don?t know what the risk is and if we tried to quantify it, it would just be a guess which would lead to scaremongering.
?But it?s very important for us to reduce our exposure. It reinforces the importance of a healthy diet.?

There is no proof showing that Acrylamidereally causes cancer in humans - it does in animals
The risk is unknown and unquantifiable

It wouldn't be the DM if it didn't run a story about something causing cancer on a regular basis. Next week, I guarantee, the DM will tell you that porridge wards off cancer. What definitely will make you ill is living in the permanent state of anxiety that reading DM food scare stories can trigger. Moral of the story... don't read the DM

LilQueenie, I think you are right to be concerned. I remember when the story broke in 2002. They said it was sue to the high temperatures at which some foods were cooked. Crisps were mentioned as being prepared in this way. You are what you eat. Diseases can be caused by what you eat. Keep reading the Daily Mail, which informs the nation about health matters as no other newspaper does.

I am also surprised by the fact that no one has started a thread about the Daily Express article on cancer causing chemicals emitted by the "green" lightbulbs. We already knew they contained mercury, but now German scientists have discovered that they also emit chemicals which may cause cancer.

Of course, the lefties will claim it is all nonsense, just like acrylamide. The leftie greg Dyke was on Sky News and poo-pooed the story, saying it showed that it was a poor news day. Keep reading papers like the Daily Mail, they tell it like it is.

I would be interested to know what the difference in 'bread' and 'other types of bread' is

Ha ha same for the chips thing. Do they not proof read?

Many lefties read Dr. Ben Goldacre's columns in the Guardian on matters scientific. I can't find him saying anything on the lightbulbs and the chemicals that they emit, but that doesn't surprise me. I have searched for what he says about acrylamide, and can only find one article. He keeps an open mind on it and sums up with

"Acrylamide, you understand, has only so far been proven to be dangerous at much higher levels than you find in most food. I?m not in the business of starting health scares."

Personally, I prefer the Daily Mail's articles on health and food, and the Daily Express on the lightbiulbs.

www.badscience.net/index.php?s=acrylamide

'I would be interested to know what the difference in 'bread' and 'other types of bread' is'

I remember them saying in 2002 that the other types of bread were things like dry crisp rye-type breads which are prepared at higher temperatures.

Ah, another Daily Mail classic story... Food, now does it cause or cure cancer?!

This may be of interest:
kill-or-cure.heroku.com/

On a more serious note for anyone concerned, so may this:
www.food.gov.uk/safereating/chemsafe/acrylamide_branch/acrylamide_study_faq/

Life causes cancer.

LOL @ Craig praising the Daily Moron Mail as a reliable source of info. Was that like your red rag to a bull moment, or what? Though I don't like low energy bulbs either, but mostly because they don't last years and years like they claim, ours go out regularly. Anyway....

Most Acrylamide intake is from home-cooked foods. Make sure not to burn your toast or meat or anything fried/grilled/etc., only lightly cook most things. Keep in mind that humans have evolved to eat lots of cooked foods, unlike animals, so there's good reason to believe that we have a different tolerance to Acrylamides than lab mice.

Did you mean the Daily More On Health and Nutrition for the nation?

Is it onlt teh fact that low energy bulbs don't last for years and years that you don't like about them? What about the mercury that they contain? What about
"Councils across the UK are refusing to pick up low-energy lightbulbs from homes as they contain toxic mercury, which gives off poisonous vapours."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1363448/We-pick-toxic-new-bulbs-Councils-say-energy-saving-lights-dangerous-binmen.html

What about
"Scientists warn that prolonged contact with the European Union-imposed bulbs could put people at risk after discovering that they ?pulse out? poisonous materials when switched on."

www.express.co.uk/posts/view/241807/New-lightbulbs-in-cancer-scare

Why aren't you worried by that? Is it just because the Daily More On The Truth and the Daily Express mention these things, and that Dr. Ben doesn't say much about it.

Worth reading the articles, but also instructive to read the comments from wise Daily Mail readers and Daily Express readers up and down the land. Thank God not everyone reads the Guardian.

tbh i read the thread title and thought which one are they talking about now. So much of stuff in food and food itself can be linked to cancer.

Yes artificial stuff can be illimnated but you cant illminate the contamination risk from the packaging and growing methods unless you grow all your own food. Most things have a threshold limit above which it is a problem.

Take radiation. we are constantly being bombarded with radiation. Then we expose ourselves to more when sick or need dental work in the form of x-rays. You dont get radiation sickness from these levels.

IMO the daily is bringing the issue to the attention of the public but tbf they could do it in a far less scare mongering manner and most people who have studied science A level/post A level will know this side effect. I have worked in labs where the concentration of this particular chemical is far higher then the levels you will encounter in food. It is just another chemical.

Mind you before you get all high and mighty about this at least you get a choice. Did you know that they add chemicals to medicines (colouring and preservatives) which are linked to hyperactivity, migraines, and can in accumlative amounts result in cancers and organ damage but there is NO alternative. They have now discontinued the colouring free versions for children who are still developing and at more risk to damage. Adults dont get a choice. It totally sucks that you have to chose between 2 weeks of severely dehibiliating migraines or a dose of antibiotics to cure a chest infection that is likely to end up with you in a&e for asthma complications if you dont take it.

Just remember that with food you do have a choice.

'Then we expose ourselves to more when sick or need dental work in the form of x-rays.'

Why do the dentist and dental nurse leg it around the corner after they put that mat over you?

'can in accumlative amounts result in cancers and organ damage but there is NO alternative. They have now discontinued the colouring free versions for children who are still developing and at more risk to damage.'

I am sure there is an alternative if they are forced to remove some of these chemicals by health and safety guardians. The more the Daily More on the Truth and Justice reports on these issues, the more the ordinary public will become aware of the risks and the closer to change we come.

Problem with chemicals in processed food is a. manufacturers and regulators are careless and b. the authorities tend to ignore the fact that you don't eat one biscuit, you eat a diet that includes many sources of acrylamide or trans fats or whatever the problem is. They need to look at total exposure from a normal Western diet and then at lifetime exposure. And if the answer is 'we don't know' then use the precautionary principle.

Processed food manufacturers have been using artificial trans fats for years. Which the authorities know full well are far worse for us than saturated fat. But they don't care about killing their customers.

This isn't about whether the Daily Mail is a reputable source - whatever you think of that title, it is a fact that acrylamides are in processed food. And that we really shouldn't be creating foods that cause cancer in animals. Because there's clearly a huge risk it does the same thing in humans. The fact that acrylamide is present in home-cooked food is even MORE reason to ensure it isn't in processed food, or that levels are minimal.

It is entirely possible to remove unnecessary additives from medicines. The generic version of the drug I have to take every day contains a common food allergen. The branded version does not. WTF when it came off-licence were the generic manufacturers allowed to add in a common food allergen? Madness.

(Thankfully I take the branded version - not all medicines are easily substituted and this is one where it would be positively dangerous. But I feel very sorry for anyone who is started on the drug now, risking an allergic reaction.)

Bit depressing, really.

I've been feeding DD porridge every morning in a belief that it was healthy, and now it seems that I've been giving her carcinogenic food. Great

Obv., it's easy to avoid crisps etc, but fucking porridge? Oats?

I really can't be arsed to read the link.

Cancer isn't one disease, it's loads of diseases and no-one knows what causes most of them.

Actually they have been discontinued and it is physically imposible to get it. Most NHS trust are on a cost cutting mission and are moving everyone onto generic rather then branded to save money. Those of us on specials (special order meds) are having to apply to be allowed to continued to have them. Most people are denied. I was lucky i got permission. But it took months to get sorted. Not good when it is an important med.

Trust me. Go in an ask if it is possible to get colouring free antibiotics for dc. You wont get it on NHS prescription. Believe me. i have child that reacts very badly to stuff like this and a lot of meds that people take for granted like hayfever meds and over the counter paracetamol preparation. it is impossible and you have to do stupid things like have adult tablets and split to the correct dose and then crush up and add to jam or something similar. it is a fucking nightmare.

And what is worse is that the drugs body is ok with it as it is cost cutting and a lot of parents think that the lovely yellow coloured med looks like something the kids might like to take. See its yellow, it takes like banana

winnybella, I think you are OK with porridge, I think the quantities are low, but it is worth looking into further. It also does have health benefits. I remember in 2002 hearing that crisps were very high and also ryvita bread. I personally cut both out at the time.

Here are some figures showing a low concentration in porridge, lower than cornflakes etc. by the look of it. www.mindfully.org/Food/Acrylamide-Heat-Processed-Foods26apr02.htm

I don't agree with the raw food crowd, because cooking food helps us to digest it. But they also have figures for the concentration of acrylamide

www.rawfoodlife.com/Latest_Raw_Food_News/WHO_acrylamide020625/who_acrylamide020625.html