Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Validation of a database on acrylamide for use in epidemiological studies

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 64, pages 534–540 (2010)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Acrylamide, a probable human carcinogen, was detected in various heat-treated foods such as French fries and potato crisps. Recently, positive associations have been found between dietary acrylamide intakes, as estimated with a food frequency questionnaire using an acrylamide database, and cancer risk in some epidemiological studies. As acrylamide levels vary considerably within the same type of foods, a validation study was performed to investigate whether use of an acrylamide food database containing calculated mean acrylamide content, based on extensive sampling and chemical analysis of Dutch foods (several samples per food), can classify subjects with respect to true acrylamide intake.

Subjects/Methods:

We used the data from a 24-h duplicate diet study. The acrylamide content of 39 Dutch 24-h duplicate diets collected in 2004 was estimated using the mean acrylamide levels of foods available from the database and the menu list, on which the participants of the duplicate diet study had listed the amounts of individual foods and drinks in household units. Next, the acrylamide content of the total duplicate diets was analytically measured and correlated to the estimated acrylamide contents.

Results:

The Spearman's correlation coefficient between chemically determined acrylamide content and the calculated acrylamide content of the duplicate diets was 0.82 (P<0.001).

Conclusions:

This study indicates that it is possible to classify subjects with respect to acrylamide intake if mean instead of actual content of each food is applied. The database can therefore be applied in epidemiological studies on acrylamide intake and cancer risk, such as the Netherlands Cohort Study on Diet and Cancer.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anonymous (2007). Acrylamide levels in foods on the Dutch Market. Food and Consumer Products Safety Authority (VWA). Report, April 2007 (in Dutch).

  • Bjellaas T, Olesen PT, Frandsen H, Haugen M, Stølen LH, Paulsen JE et al. (2007). Comparison of estimated dietary intake of acrylamide with hemoglobin adducts of acrylamide and glycidamide. Toxicol Sci 98, 110–117.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brantsaeter AL, Haugen M, de Mul A, Bjellaas T, Becher G, van Klaveren J et al. (2008). Exploration of different methods to assess dietary acrylamide exposure in pregnant women participating in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Food Chem Toxicol 46, 2808–2814.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • CIAA 2009. Acrylamide ‘Toolbox’: the European food and drink industry (CIAA). CIAA: Bruxelles.

  • Doerge DR, Young JF, Chen JJ, DiNovi MJ, Henry SH (2008). Using dietary exposure and physiologically based pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling in human risk extrapolations for acrylamide toxicity. J Agric Food Chem 56, 6031–6038.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • EFSA 2008. Acrylamide carcinogenicity new evidence in relation to dietary exposure. Summary Report EFSA scientific colloquium no. 11. 22–23 May 2008, EFSA: Tabiano (PR), Italy.

  • EFSA 2009. The EFSA Scientific Report (2009). Scientific Report of the European Food Safety Authority prepared by Data Collection and Exposure Unit (DATEX) on ‘Monitoring of acrylamide levels in food’. 285, 1–26.

  • Donders-Engelen M, van der Heijden L, Hulshof KFAM (2003). Maten, Gewichten en codenummers. Landbouwuniversiteit Wageningen: Afdeling Humane Voeding: Wageningen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fohgelberg P, Rosén J, Hellenäs KE, Abramsson-Zetterberg L (2005). The acrylamide intake via some common baby food for children in Sweden during their first year of life—an improved method for analyses of acrylamide. Food Chem Toxicol 43, 951–959.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldbohm RA, van ’t Veer P, van den Brandt PA, van ’t Hof A, Brants AM, Sturmans F et al. (1994). Reproducibility of a food frequency questionnaire and stability of dietary habits determined from five annually repeated measurements. Eur J Clin Nutr 48, 253–265.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldbohm RA, van ’t Veer P, van den Brandt PA, van ’t Hof A, Brants AM, Sturmans F et al. (1995). Reproducibility of a food frequency questionnaire and stability of dietary habits determined from five annually repeated measurements. Eur J Clin Nutr 49, 420–429.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hogervorst JG, Schouten LJ, Konings EJ, Goldbohm RA, van den Brandt PA (2007). A Prospective Study of Dietary Acrylamide Intake and the Risk of Endometrial, Ovarian and Breast Cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 16, 2304–2313.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hogervorst JG, Schouten LJ, Konings EJ, Goldbohm RA, van den Brandt PA (2008a). Dietary acrylamide intake and the risk of renal cell, bladder, and prostate cancer. Am J Clin Nutr 87, 1428–1438.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hogervorst JG, Schouten LJ, Konings EJ, Goldbohm RA, van den Brandt PA (2008b). Dietary acrylamide intake is not associated with gastrointestinal cancer risk. J Nutr 138, 2229–2236.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hogervorst JG, Schouten LJ, Konings EJ, Goldbohm RA, van den Brandt PA (2009a). Lung cancer risk in relation to dietary acrylamide intake. J Natl Cancer Inst 101, 651–662.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hogervorst JG, Schouten LJ, Konings EJ, Goldbohm RA, van den Brandt PA (2009b). Dietary acrylamide intake and brain cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 18, 1663–1666.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • IARC (1994). Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogen Risk to Humans: Some Industrial Chemicals. International Agency for Research on Cancer: Lyon.

  • JECFA (2005). Summary and conclusions of the sixty-fourth meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA).

  • Konings EJ, Ashby P, Hamlet CG, Thompson GA (2007). Acrylamide in cereal and cereal products: a review on progress in level reduction. Food Addit Contam 24 (Suppl 1), 47–59.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Konings EJ, Baars AJ, van Klaveren JD, Spanjer MC, Rensen PM, Hiemstra M et al. (2003). Acrylamide exposure from foods of the Dutch population and an assessment of the consequent risks. Food Chem Toxicol 41, 1569–1579.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Konings EJ, Hogervorst JGF, Schouten LJ, van den Brandt PA (2006). Assessing exposure levels of acrylamide. In: Skog K, Alexander J, (eds). Acrylamide and Other Hazardous Compounds in Heat-treated Foods. Woodhead Publishing Limited: Cambridge, 214–225.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kütting B, Schettgen T, Beckman MW, Angerer J, Drexler H (2005). Influence of diet on exposure to acylamide—reflection on the validity of a Questionnaire. Ann Nutr Metab 49, 173–177.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kütting B, Uter W, Drexier H (2008). The association between self-reported acrylamide intake and hemoglobin adducts as biomarkers of exposure. Cancer Causes Control 19, 273–281.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larsson SC, Akesson A, Bergkvist L, Wolk A (2009a). Dietary acrylamide intake and risk of colorectal cancer in a prospective cohort of men. Eur J Cancer 45, 513–516.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larsson SC, Akesson A, Wolk A (2009b). Long-term dietary acrylamide intake and breast cancer risk in a prospective cohort of Swedish women. Am J Epidemiol 169, 376–381.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larsson SC, Akesson A, Wolk A (2009c). Dietary acrylamide intake and prostate cancer risk in a prospective cohort of Swedish men. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 18, 1939–1941.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larsson SC, Akesson A, Wolk A (2009d). Long-term dietary acrylamide intake and risk of epithelial ovarian cancer in a prospective cohort of Swedish women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 18, 994–997.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Larsson SC, Håkansson N, Akesson A, Wolk A (2009e). Long-term dietary acrylamide intake and risk of endometrial cancer in a prospective cohort of Swedish women. Int J Cancer 124, 1196–1199.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mottram DS, Wedzicha BL, Dodson AT (2002). Acrylamide is formed in the Maillard reaction. Nature 419, 448–449.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mucci LA, Adami HO, Wolk A (2006). Prospective study of dietary acrylamide and risk of colorectal cancer among women. Int J Cancer 118, 169–173.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mucci LA, Dickman PW, Steineck G, Adami HO, Augustsson K (2003). Dietary acrylamide and cancer of the large bowel, kidney, and bladder: absence of an association in a population-based study in Sweden. Br J Cancer 88, 84–89.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Mucci LA, Lindblad P, Steineck G, Adami HO (2004). Dietary acrylamide and risk of renal cell cancer. Int J Cancer 109, 774–776.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mucci LA, Sandin S, Balter K, Adami HO, Magnusson C, Weiderpass E (2005). Acrylamide intake and breast cancer risk in Swedish women. Jama 293, 1326–1327.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • NMKL 2007. Acrylamide: Determination in Bakery and Potato Products by Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). Nordic Committee on Food Analysis (NMKL) method No. 18. NMKL: Osto, Norway.

  • Pelucchi C, Galeone C, Levi F, Negri E, Franceschi S, Talamini R et al. (2006). Dietary acrylamide and human cancer. Int J Cancer 118, 467–471.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rosén J, Hellenäs K-E (2002). Analysis of acrylamide in cooked foods by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Analyst 127, 880–882.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schouten LJ, Hogersvorst JG, Konings EJ, Goldbohm RA, van den Brandt PA (2009). Dietary acrylamide intake and the risk of head-neck and thyroid cancers: Results from the Netherlands cohort study. Am J Epidemiol 170, 873–883.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sizoo EA, van Egmond HP (2005). Analysis of duplicate 24-hour diet samples for aflatoxin B1, aflatoxin M1 and ochratoxin A. Food Add and Contam 22, 163–172.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stadler RH, Blank I, Varga N, Robert F, Hau J, Guy PA et al. (2002). Acrylamide from Maillard reaction products. Nature 419, 449–450.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tareke E, Rydberg P, Karlsson P, Eriksson S, Tornqvist M (2002). Analysis of acrylamide, a carcinogen formed in heated foodstuffs. J Agric Food Chem 50, 4998–5006.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Olsen PT, Olsen A, Frandsen H, Frederiksen K, Overad K, Tjonneland A (2008). Acrylamide exposure and incidence of breast cancer among postmenopausal women in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health Study. In J Cancer 122, 2094–2100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenzl T, Szilagyi S, Rosen J, Karasek L (2008). Validation of an analytical method to determine the content of acrylamide in roasted coffee. Report on the collaborative trial. Determination of acrylamide in coffee by isotope dilution high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. European Commission, Joint Research Centre. Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements. EUR 23403 EN ISBN 978-92-79-09331-9. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2008.

  • Willett W (1998). Nutritional Epidemiology, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press: New York.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson KM, Bälter K, Adami HO, Grönberg H, Vikström AC, Paulsson B et al. (2009a). Acrylamide exposure measured by food frequency questionnaire and hemoglobin adduct levels and prostate cancer risk in the cancer of the prostate in Sweden Study. Int J Cancer 124, 2384–2390.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson KM, Mucci LA, Cho E, Hunter DJ, Chen WY, Willett WC (2009b). Dietary acrylamide intake and risk of premenopausal breast cancer. Am J Epidemiol 169, 954–961.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson KM, Vesper HW, Tocco P, Sampson L, Rosén J, Hellenäs K-E et al. (2009). Validation of a food frequency questionnaire measurement of dietary acrylamide intake using hemoglobin adducts of acrylamide and glycidamide. Cancer Causes Control 20, 269–278.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wirfält E, Paulsson B, Törnqvist M, Axmon A, Hagmar L (2008). Associations between estimated acrylamide intakes, and hemoglobin AA adducts in a sample from the Malmö diet and cancer cohort. Eur J Clin Nutr 62, 314–323.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to the participants of this 24-h duplicate diet study and we further thank Marc van Zon of the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (VWA) for the determination of acrylamide in the duplicate diets. This study was supported by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (VWA).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Quality and Safety, Nestlé Research Center, Lausanne, Switzerland

    E J M Konings

  2. Department of Epidemiology, GROW—School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    J G F Hogervorst, L J Schouten & P A van den Brandt

  3. Department of Research and Development, Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (VWA), Region South, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    L van Rooij

  4. Laboratory for Food and Residue Analysis, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Utrecht, The Netherlands

    E A Sizoo & H P van Egmond

  5. Department of Prevention and Health, TNO Quality of Life, Leiden, The Netherlands

    R A Goldbohm

Authors
  1. E J M Konings
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J G F Hogervorst
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. L van Rooij
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. L J Schouten
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. E A Sizoo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. H P van Egmond
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. R A Goldbohm
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. P A van den Brandt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E J M Konings.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Contributors: EJMK and LvR collected and analyzed the data, interpreted the results and drafted the paper; JGFH designed the study, collected and analyzed the data, interpreted the results and contributed to the drafting of the paper; EAS and HPvE designed and performed the 24-h duplicate study; LJS, RAG and PAvdB contributed to the drafting of the paper and approved the final version; and PAvdB contributed to the drafting of the paper, approved the final version and had study supervision.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Konings, E., Hogervorst, J., van Rooij, L. et al. Validation of a database on acrylamide for use in epidemiological studies. Eur J Clin Nutr 64, 534–540 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2010.17

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2010.17

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links