In the summer, Markíza TV approached us with a request to talk about acrylamide and its content in coffee on the Reflex program. Today we are looking deeper into this topic and presenting more data and studies that didn't fit into the report.
What is acrylamide? It is a chemical substance that is formed when carbohydrates are exposed to high temperatures, usually 120°C or more (Maillard reaction). Acrylamide can therefore be found, for example, in fried and baked foods such as bread, potatoes, cereals, chips, biscuits, but also in coffee, because coffee also contains carbohydrates. Since acrylamide in large amounts causes cancer, its presence in large amounts in coffee would be a clear problem for coffee drinkers.
So I started looking into this topic and found two interesting studies, which I will briefly summarize here. It turned out that the maximum allowable amount of acrylamide is 0,2 mg per 1 kg of body weight. The Polish National Food and Nutrition Institute tested 42 different types of coffee, beans, ground, instant, and coffee substitutes (such as chicory).
The most acrylamide was found in substitutes – 800 µg per 1 kg, but that is still 3 times less than the average value for potato chips and 8 times less than in butter biscuits.
In second place was instant coffee with 358 µg/kg, and in third place was coffee beans with 180 µg/kg.
Scientists found that there is no difference in acrylamide content between Arabica and Robusta, and they also found a correlation that the darker the coffee is roasted, the significantly higher the proportion of acrylamides in it.
I also found an interesting number in research conducted by the Institute of Food Science, Technology and Nutrition in Madrid. Since no one drinks, for example, 20 g of coffee as such, but a beverage made from it, scientists from this institute checked how much acrylamide is directly in a cup of coffee. It turned out that this content was on average about 20 µg per liter of beverage.
I think it is very unlikely that anyone drinks even a liter of coffee a day, and even if they did, they would still be far from exceeding the maximum allowable amount of acrylamide.
So I think the myth has been busted.
Without a doubt (but only freshly roasted and freshly ground), we can still consider coffee a superfood loaded with antioxidants such as flavonoids or chlorogenic acid, but even caffeine itself is strongly antiseptic.
Watch the report in Reflex, where we also talk about acrylamide in coffee.
