Acrylamide in food does not up lung cancer risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Consumption of foods containing acrylamide does not increase the risk of lung cancer in men, and in women, it may actually reduce the risk.

Prior research has linked intake of acrylamide, formed in some starchy foods cooked at high temperatures, with various cancers but other studies have not found a link. The association, if any, with lung cancer was unclear, Dr. Janneke G. F. Hogervorst, from Maastricht University, the Netherlands, and colleagues note.

To investigate, the researchers analyzed data from 120,000 men and women enrolled in the Netherlands Cohort Study on Diet and Cancer. Questionnaires administered in 1986 were used to assess dietary intake of acrylamide, and the subjects were followed until 2000.

During follow-up, 2649 patients developed lung cancer, according to the report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

On final analysis, men whose diets contained high amounts of acrylamide were no more or less likely to develop lung cancer than those whose diets had low amounts.

By contrast, women with high acrylamide diets were 55 percent less likely to develop lung cancer than women with low acrylamide diets.

In a related editorial, Dr. Lorelei A. Mucci and Dr. Hans-Olov Adami, from Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, comment that it is premature to speculate how acrylamide intake may reduce the risk of lung cancer in women until other studies confirm that there is, in fact, a protective association.

"Perhaps the safe conclusion we can make from the Netherlands study," the two commentators conclude, "is that the findings do not support a positive association between acrylamide intake from diet and risk of lung cancer."

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, May 6, 2009.