Coffee, as the world's mainstream drink, is entering more and more homes of ordinary Chinese people. However, the results of a coffee comparison test recently announced by the Fujian Provincial Consumer Protection Commission have been interpreted by some ** as "drinking coffee causes cancer", causing public concern.
According to the news released by the Fujian Provincial Consumer Protection Commission on January 8, 20 coffee sales units in some blocks of Fuzhou City were sampled online and offline in August, and 59 freshly made and sold coffees were detected with acrylamide, a class 2A carcinogen, with a content of 111 mcg kg to 304 micrograms per kilogram. After the results were partially ***, the statement that "drinking coffee causes cancer" gradually appeared, which attracted ** attention.
In this regard, brands such as Luckin and Starbucks involved in the sampling have responded that the company's products meet the relevant national standards and can be drunk with confidence. However, there are still netizens who leave messages on social platforms asking how to understand the results of this random inspectionIf it is suspected of violating the food safety law, why not ask the merchant to rectify and impose penalties?
On the same day, the Fuzhou Market Supervision Bureau issued a document saying that acrylamide is not an ingredient of the coffee beans themselves, nor is it artificially added, but occurs naturally during the roasting process. At present, there are no restrictive or prohibitive regulations on acrylamide in coffee in China. At the same time, the article said that acrylamide is not unique to coffee, starchy foods are more or less produced when grilling and frying, and a small amount of acrylamide will not affect the human body.
So, what exactly is acrylamide?Does it really cause cancer?Studies have shown that acrylamide is an organic compound that is widely found in cereals, aquatic products, meat, nuts, starch, coffee and other foods when they are baked, barbecued and other high-temperature treatments. Acrylamide was listed as a Group 2A carcinogen by WHO in 2017 due to its potential damage to the human nervous system. However, there is no consensus in the scientific community on how much acrylamide should be ingested to pose a risk to human health. A study cited by several ** shows that an adult weighing 60 kilograms needs to consume 156 micrograms of acrylamide per day to be at risk, which is equivalent to drinking 12 kilograms of coffee in a day.
In recent years, with the changes in people's lifestyles and health concepts, cancer prevention has become the focus of attention. The carcinogenicity of everyday foods is also often discussed.
The current internationally accepted classification of carcinogens is made by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is affiliated with the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the different carcinogenic risks to humans and mammals, the chemicals that have been carcinogenic studied are divided into four categories, two of which are divided into two groups, AB, and group A has limited evidence of carcinogenicity to humans but sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity to animals. Group B has limited evidence of carcinogenicity in both humans and animals. The acrylamide that attracted attention this time belongs to category 2a, and the aspartame, kimchi, and mobile phone radiation in cola, which have attracted attention before, belong to category 2b carcinogens.
For Class 1 carcinogens such as nicotine, arsenic and aflatoxin, which are common in moldy foods, there is a wide range of awareness in the scientific community and the public. However, the scientific community has different views on acrylamide and other class 2 carcinogens, and the public can only be cautious. The main reason for this classification method is that the main basis of this classification method is whether the evidence of carcinogenicity in existing studies is sufficient, rather than the strength of the carcinogenic ability of the substance itself. At the same time, the dosage of carcinogens used in animal experiments is often equivalent to 1,000 to 10,000 times the daily intake of human diet, so the experimental results are only a reference for humans and cannot be completely copied. Therefore, the current common practice is to combine the dosage for the carcinogenicity of Class 2 carcinogens**.
So, how should we rationally look at the detection of carcinogens in food?Li Shuguang, a professor at the Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene at the School of Public Health of Fudan University, believes that there is no unified conclusion in the scientific community about the carcinogenicity of acrylamide and which kind of cancer it may cause. In fact, although Class 2 carcinogens are widely present in our surroundings and daily diet, it would be a mistake to talk about "toxicity" without dosage. One of the important tasks of China's food and drug administration and other regulatory departments is to focus on monitoring the risk substances and carcinogens that may appear in food, and if it is confirmed that it will affect national health, it will definitely prohibit its use and circulation. Therefore, for the detection of acrylamide in the coffee this time, ordinary consumers do not need to worry too much about it.
Take a look at the news knews editor Jin Mei Zhai Jing Ruan Li).