Dietary acrylamide exposure and health risk assessment of pregnant women: A case study from Türkiye

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the acrylamide exposure of pregnant women resulting from the consumption of bread, coffee, and French fries and to evaluate it in terms of carcinogenic and non‐carcinogenic health risks. Retrospective 24‐h food consumption data of pregnant women (n = 487) was obtained using the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Dietary acrylamide exposure was calculated according to a deterministic model, and the data were assessed by hazard index (HI) and carcinogenic risk (CR). The mean daily acrylamide exposure of pregnant women aged 18–30 and ≥31 years and in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimesters was 31.4, 35.4, 38.7, 31.3, and 32.4 μg/day, respectively. The acrylamide exposure data were not significantly different among different age groups and pregnancy periods (p > .05). Dietary acrylamide exposure in pregnant women of different age groups and trimesters may cause significant and serious health problems in terms of carcinogenic risk. According to their level of contribution to average acrylamide exposure, the foods were ranked as follows: French fries> bread> coffee. There is a significant risk of cancer due to exposure to acrylamide from French fries and bread other than coffee. The findings suggest that pregnant women should avoid consuming French fries, bread, and coffee with high acrylamide levels for both their own health and their newborns' health.

Traditional food processing and Acrylamide formation: A review

“…WHO estimated that for the general population, including children, the international mean dietary exposure to acrylamide in food is 1 μg/kg bw per day [ 78 ]. According to the same article, 4 μg/kg bw per day is considered to be the excessive dietary exposure to acrylamide [ 31 , [91] , [92] , [93] ]. Acrylamide is thought to be genotoxic, there is no safe threshold dose, and since the dangers posed by genotoxic substances are not species-specific, the relative cancer risk observed in animals is extrapolated to humans [ 31 ].…”

“…The amount of acrylamide in food should be follow the guideline ALARA (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) [ 36 ]. Bread, coffee, and French fries are examples of foods high in acrylamide that pregnant women should stay away from since they increase the risk of cancer in both the mother and the fetus [ 93 ]. Acrylamide is classified as a neo-formed toxin (NFT), meaning that it may have harmful effects on human health.…”

Curcumin mitigates acrylamide‐induced ovarian antioxidant disruption and apoptosis in female Balb/c mice: A comprehensive study on gene and protein expressions

“…Animals exposed to acrylamide may have decreased fertility, implantation abnormalities, and lower postnatal survival (ALKarim et al., 2015 ; Duan et al., 2015 ; Tyl & Friedman, 2003 ). Pekmezci and Basaran ( 2023 ) have shown that the exposure to acrylamide in pregnant women leads to an increased risk of cancer.…”