According to Reuters, a court in Los Angeles has ruled that Starbucks and several other coffee companies must put cancer warning labels on coffee sold in California. Starbucks coffee once became the favorite of many small investors, but is Starbucks coffee really carcinogenic? What is the truth like?
The reason is that the roasted coffee on the market is found to contain high concentration of acrylamide, a toxic carcinogenic chemical.
Drink coffee to cause cancer? Imagine that every coffee you drink in the future has such a warning & hellip; & hellip;
Is it really that serious to drink coffee? Can you still drink coffee at ease?
What exactly is acrylamide?
Acrylamide is a byproduct of Maillard reaction in food.
Generally speaking, the yield of acrylamide is positively correlated with the degree of Maillard reaction.
For the same kind of starchy food, the darker the color and the stronger the fragrance after hot cooking, the higher the yield of acrylamide will be.
Long before the Starbucks incident, the chief prosecutor of California in the United States sued nine fast food chains, including McDonald's, KFC and Burger King, asking the businessmen to indicate on the outer packaging of chips and chips that the food contains the carcinogen 'acrylamide'.
The international agency for research on cancer (IARC) classifies acrylamide as a secondary carcinogen. Although it is not a high toxic substance, it is a possible carcinogen for human beings, and long-term large-scale intake may increase the risk of cancer.
In addition, acrylamide can damage the human nervous system. Taking high doses of acrylamide can cause depression, hallucination and even loss of memory.
Is it true that drinking coffee causes cancer?
Animal experiments show that acrylamide has potential neurotoxicity, genotoxicity and carcinogenicity. However, at present, studies in humans have not confirmed the relationship between the intake of acrylamide, the level of related biochemical markers and a variety of cancer risks. Therefore, it cannot be said that the intake of acrylamide will definitely increase the risk of cancer.
According to data from a 2010 study published in the Journal of food and chemical toxicology, the carcinogenic dose of acrylamide is 2.6 & mu; G-16 & mu; g / kg body weight per day.
Let's use the most conservative figures to estimate:
An adult with a weight of 50kg who takes in 2.6 & mu; g * 50 = 130 & mu; g every day, i.e. 10kg coffee, will drink carcinogenic dose (average dose of acrylamide in brewed coffee is 13 & mu; g / kg, data source: China National Center for food safety risk assessment)
10kg coffee, about the same as 28 Starbucks cups of coffee! People who can't drink 8 cups of water a day, don't worry about it.
Acrylamide is also 'hidden' in these foods
The baked bread slices, Guoba, pancakes and other foods with scorching fragrance have endless aftertaste, but few people know that this carcinogen is hidden in the scorched starch food.
Acrylamide is very common in our life. It was found that acrylamide in three kinds of food was the most easily to exceed the standard
The first is chips, chips, chips and other fried potatoes; the second is fried pasta such as oil chips, crispy, row fork (Beijing traditional snacks); the third is baked food such as biscuits, cookies, and pancakes.
How to avoid acrylamide
To keep away from acrylamide, diet should pay attention to:
Drink less instant coffee, the content of acrylamide in instant coffee is much higher than that of brewed and deep roasted coffee;
On the premise of ensuring cooked and killing microorganisms, try to avoid over cooking food, such as too high temperature and too long heating time;
When making staple food, it is suggested to use the method of steaming, boiling and stewing, less frying, frying and baking;
It's better to eat less fried food such as fried dough sticks and twist, fried vegetable balls, fried fish and shrimp wrapped in batter, etc;
Eat less baked, fried and expanded potato products;
If you want to fry, fry and bake, try to cut the block as large as possible and the slice as thick as possible, which is conducive to reducing acrylamide;
Don't bake bread slices too yellow.