A REVIEW ON ACRYLAMIDE IN FOODS: SOURCES AND IMPLICATIONS TO HEALTH

Abstract

Acrylamide is basically one of the most industrial organic compound monomers of polyacrylamide that finds its way into many products in our everyday life. It is one of the potential environmental public health problems, both as a suspected carcinogen and a neurotoxin resulting from its increased accumulation in the process of cooking food materials. It is a chemical with a very wide range of uses and it accounts for one of the major health concern because it has been detected in a widely consumed food items; fried breads (or any carbohydrate-rich food items cooked at high temperature). Accordingly, the general population is highly exposed to it. Acrylamide formation occurs primarily at elevated cooking temperatures used when frying or baking (above 120 C) and in low moisture conditions. These cascades of reactions involve the Maillard reaction, which leads to browning and flavor changes in cooked foods. There are also several foods in which acrylamide appears to form in high-moisture conditions at lower temperatures, such as prune juice and canned ripe black olives. These substances are usually formed when asparagines is heated in the presence of compounds that is heated in the presence of compounds that have a-hydroxycarbonyl groups, a,B,y,d-diunsaturated carbonyl groups or a-dicarbonyl groups. The acrolein pathway and enzymatic decarboxylation of asparagine, as well as endogenic processes, are other alternative routes to amino acid formation. It can be naturally present in uncooked, raw foods in very small amounts. It is pertinent to note that some non-dietary sources could expose us to this substance. These non-dietary sources include cigarette smoke (about 1-2 micrograms per cigarette) and cosmetics. There is also airborne release of acrylamide during many different manufacturing processes, including the manufacturing of paper, asphalt, petroleum, photographic film, construction adhesives, varnishes, and dyes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that U.S. adults average 0.4 micrograms of dietary acrylamide intake per kilogram of body weight each day. For an adult weighing 150 pounds, this amount translates into approximately 27 micrograms of dietary acrylamide per day. Levels reported in Literature vary from 25 to 2000 μg/kg and potato products are considered as containing the highest level of acrylamide. The nitty-gritty of this review is to summarize various strategies, results of academic and industrial research on health damaging properties, exposure sources, formation mechanism and mitigation measures of acrylamide in foods.