FDA: Fries Are Not the Only Culprit in Acrylamide Levels

French fries and potato chips have been dubbed villains when it comes to a possibly cancer-causing substance, but Americans get a lot of the chemical from everyday nutritious staples, government scientists said Monday.

Fries and chips do contain more acrylamide than other fried or baked foods. But foods with low acrylamide levels that are eaten more frequently than junk food -- from vitamin-packed breakfast cereal to toast and coffee -- have a big effect on the U.S. population’s overall exposure to the possible carcinogen, the Food and Drug Administration concluded.

So someone who dislikes fries but guzzles coffee or eats cereal every morning might absorb as much acrylamide as a fry-lover, according to the FDA’s new estimate of acrylamide exposure.

Acrylamide has been found to cause cancer in lab rats, but scientists are still studying whether it causes cancer in humans.

As manufacturers hunt for ways to remove the chemical from popular foods, however, “the point of this is ... no one food is contributing to the majority of the acrylamide” in the U.S. diet, said FDA scientist Donna Robie.

Many foods contain acrylamide, and the longer they’re cooked, the more of the chemical is formed. Soft bread contains very little, but toasting more than quadruples acrylamide.

Other foods, such as milk, frozen vegetables and meat, contain little or no acrylamide.