Dietary Heat-Treatment Contaminants Exposure and Cancer: A Case Study from Turkey

Abstract

In this study, the 10-year dietary habits of patients diagnosed with cancer (n = 1155) were retrospectively analyzed, and the relationships between dietary (red meat, white meat, fish meat, French fries, bread, instant coffee, ready-to-drink coffee, Turkish coffee, and black tea) heterocyclic amines, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, acrylamide, and N-nitrosamine-based risk scores and cancer types were statistically evaluated. The foods with the highest and lowest mean dietary heat-treatment contaminant risk scores were red meat and ready-to-drink coffee, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in the dietary heat-treatment contamination risk scores based on the cancer patients’ demographic characteristics (sex, age, smoking, and body mass index) (p < 0.05). According to the cancer types, the systems with the highest and lowest dietary heat-treatment contaminant risk scores were determined as other (brain, thyroid, lymphatic malignancies, skin, oro- and hypopharynx, and hematology) and the reproductive (breast, uterus, and ovary) system, respectively. The relationship between instant coffee consumption and respiratory system cancer types, the frequency of consumption of French fries and urinary system cancer types and the consumption of meat products and gastrointestinal system cancer types were determined. It is thought that this study contains important findings regarding the relationship between dietary habits and cancer and will be a good source for other studies to be conducted in this context.

Traditional food processing and Acrylamide formation: A review

“…On the other hand, the previous author found higher acrylamide exposure in females than in males, male: 0.41 μg/kg bw per day, female: 0.44 μg/kg bw per day; male: 0.15 μg/kg bw per day, female: 0.19 μg/kg bw per day). Similar findings shows that the exposure of acrylamide depends on demographic characteristics (sex, age, smoking, and body mass index [ 35 ]. Thus, to protect the people from different health problems due to the acrylamide content in coffee drinks, efforts should be made, and awareness should be given to the society.…”

“…The Maillard reaction, a complex series of chemical reactions taking place between amino acids and reducing sugars, is responsible for the browning and flavour development in a wide variety of heat-treated foods [ 34 ]. However, recent studies have implicated the Maillard reaction as a significant precursor to the formation of acrylamide, a potentially harmful compound found in many cooked and processed foods [ 35 ]. The formation of acrylamide occurs predominantly during high-temperature cooking processes, such as baking, frying, and roasting.…”

“…Specifically, the formation of acrylamide is high due to a reaction of free amino acids (asparagine) with reducing sugars. According to studies, acrylamide is absent from raw foods, but it can be found in foods that have been processed at temperatures above 120 °C, depending on the temperature and length of time [ 35 , 36 ]. Maillard reaction was crucial to the food industry because it also yields a variety of other chemicals that add flavor and aroma, including the melanoidin molecules that give baked, roasted, and fried foods their color.…”

Acrylamide formation in air-fried versus deep and oven-fried potatoes

“…Potatoes are widely consumed in Türkiye, like in other countries worldwide ( 22 , 23 ), mostly as oil-fried ( 24 ), and in home-cooked conditions. Also, the rate of using air fryers for home-fried potatoes has increased noticeably in recent years in Türkiye as in many other countries.…”

Dietary acrylamide-linked burden of cancers in four sub-sahara African countries: A review and data synthesis

“…The Maillard reaction is driven by heat, so it is ubiquitous in many foods that undergo roasting, baking, frying, or toasting, such as cocoa beans, coffee, cereal products, potato crisps, baked goods, and baby foods [ [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] ]. Since the bulk of the human diet is obtained from such food categories, it raises a concern that everybody may be at risk of dietary AA exposure [ 16 , 17 ]. Exposure to acrylamide (AA) has various effects on human health, especially when it is biotransformed during its metabolism after ingestion.…”