Implications of the Current State of Scientific Knowledge

1
Implications of the Current State of Scientific
Knowledge

• David W K Acheson, M.D.
• Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration

2
Overview

• Current areas of scientific interest
• What do we know about the impact of current
  knowledge on health risks?
• Should the consumer message be altered based on
  the current state of knowledge?

3
Overall Goal

• Through scientific investigation and risk
  management decision making, prevent and/or reduce
  potential risk of acrylamide in foods to the
  greatest possible extent.
• Sub goal
• Inform and educate consumers and processors
  about the potential risks throughout the
  assessment process and as knowledge is gained.

4
Consumers may have questions

• Will eating certain types of food cause cancer?
• What is safe to eat?
• Should I stop eating certain types of food?
• Should I be cooking foods differently?
• What should I be doing differently to protect
  myself and family?

5
Current consumer message

• Eat a balanced diet that heeds the advice in the
  dietary guidelines.
• Should this be any different based on current
  scientific knowledge?

6
Current areas of scientific interest

• Acrylamide formation
• Ways to diminish formation
• Levels of acrylamide in food
• Dietary intake of various foods
• Exposure assessment
• Epidemiology
• Impacts of exposure to acrylamide on human health

7
Implications

• Understanding formation, and developing
  mitigation strategies could lead to a reduction
  in levels.
• Key need is to understand the health implications
  of exposure from these levels.

8
Exposure assessment

• Based on the analyses to date a relatively small
  number of foods contribute the most to the total
  daily acrylamide exposure.
• Mean acrylamide exposure is in the range of
  0.3-0.5 mg/kg/day.

9
Exposure assessment

• Wide range of exposure depending on diet.
• Generally diets high in certain types of food
  (fries, chips, etc.) will have higher acrylamide
  intakes than diets of equivalent caloric intake
  that are lower in those types of foods.
• 100 calories of raw apple lt acrylamide than 100
  calories of over baked fries
• Does this level of acrylamide intake have an
  impact on health?

10
Understanding the risk from acrylamide in food to
human health is a key need.

• Neurological consequences
• Effects on germ cells
• Role as a potential carcinogen

11
Evidence to indicate that the known levels of
exposure to acrylamide in food are harmful to
health.

• Animal studies
• mg/kg range.
• Human dosing studies, single dose for kinetics
• data not yet available
• Human epidemiological studies
• Occupational exposure no links with cancer
• Exposure via food one study

12
Human epidemiological studies

• Factors to consider
• Dose
• Length of exposure
• Age
• Genetic susceptibility
• Synergistic factors
• Types of tumors

13
Human epidemiological studyBritish Journal of
Cancer 2003 88 84-89

• Purpose
• To analyze data from a population-based control
  study in Sweden to investigate whether higher
  intake of certain food items with higher
  acrylamide content increases the risk of large
  bowel, bladder or kidney cancer.

14
Human epidemiological studyBritish Journal of
Cancer 2003 88 84-89

• 538 Controls
• 591 cases of large bowel cancer
• 263 cases of bladder cancer
• 133 cases of kidney cancer.
• Dietary consumption of certain foods in prior 5
  years via questionnaire.
• Most high-acrylamide foods included in questions

15
Human epidemiological studyBritish Journal of
Cancer 2003 88 84-89

• Data stratified by acrylamide exposure into
  quartiles.
• Authors concluded
• No positive association between dietary
  exposure to acrylamide and risks of bowel,
  bladder or kidney cancer.

16
Human epidemiological studyBritish Journal of
Cancer 2003 88 84-89

• BUT
• Limited sample size
• Not all acrylamide containing foods captured
• Only looked at selected cancers

17
Current Implications

• Strength of the link between animal toxicity
  (mg/kg) with human exposure (mg/kg)
• Human data indicating that this level of exposure
  poses a significant health risk is lacking
• Consumptions of certain types of food will
  increase exposure to acrylamide
• What should the advice be to consumers?

18
Risk Management

• We do not want to create one problem by solving
  another.
• Maintaining objectivity and a balance is critical.

19
Consumer advice follow dietary guidelines

• Choose a variety of grains daily, especially
  whole grains.
• Choose a variety of fruits and vegetables daily.
• Choose a diet that is low in saturated fat and
  cholesterol and moderate in total fat.
• Choose a diet moderate in sugars.
• Choose and prepare foods with less salt.
• Aim for a healthy weight.
• Be physically active each day.

20
Toward the future

• FDA will review the consumer message as new
  information is obtained during implementation of
  the action plan.
• Methods to reduce levels
• By industry
• At home
• Better understanding of the risk to human health