Dietary acrylamide exposure among Finnish adults and children: the potential effect of reduction measures

Abstract

A deterministic exposure assessment using the Nusser method that adjusts for within-subject variation and for nuisance effects among Finnish children and adults was carried out. The food consumption data covered 2038 adults (25–74 years old) and 1514 children of 1, 3 and 6 years of age, with the data on foods’ acrylamide content obtained from published Finnish studies. We found that acrylamide exposure was highest among the 3-year-old children (median = 1.01 µg kg⁻¹bwday⁻¹, 97.5th percentile = 1.95 µg kg⁻¹bwday⁻¹) and lowest among 65–74-year-old women (median = 0.31 µg kg⁻¹bwday⁻¹, 97.5th percentile = 0.69 µg kg⁻¹bwday⁻¹). Among adults, the most important source of acrylamide exposure was coffee, followed by casseroles rich in starch, then rye bread. Among children, the most important sources were casseroles rich in starch and then biscuits and, finally, chips and other fried potatoes. Replacing lightly roasted coffee with dark-roasted, swapping sweet wheat buns for biscuits, and decreasing the acrylamide content of starch-based casseroles and rye bread by 50% would result in a 50% decrease in acrylamide exposure in adults. Among children, substituting boiled potatoes for chips and other friend potatoes and replacing biscuits with sweet wheat buns while lowering the acrylamide content of starch-based casseroles by 50% would lead to acrylamide exposure that is only half of the original exposure. In conclusions, dietary modifications could have a large impact in decreasing acrylamide exposure.

Keywords:

• exposure assessment
• statistical analysis
• process contaminants
• acrylamide
• cereals
• beer
• coffee
• snack products

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes (EFSD), Doctoral Programs in Public Health, the Academy of Finland (Grants Nos 63672, 79685, 79686, 80846, 201,988 and 210,632), the Finnish Diabetes Research Foundation, the Juho Vainio Foundation, the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation, Medical Research Funds of Turku, Oulu and Tampere University Hospitals, JDRF (Grants Nos 197,032, 4-1998-274, 4-1999-731 and 4-2001-435), Novo Nordisk Foundation and European Union Biomed 2 Program (BMH4-CT98-3314). The authors express their gratitude to the children and parents who participated in the study. They also thank the DIPP research nurses, doctors, nutritionists and laboratory staff for excellent collaboration over the years.