Do you still believe that drinking coffee can cause cancer? Experts take you to uncover the truth of Starbucks coffee carcinogenesis.

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In short, acrylamide is a suspected carcinogen but there is no evidence that it is ubiquitous in food and is not serious enough to deserve attention. At present, there is a lack of evidence to support "coffee causing cancer".

On Wednesday, a California court issued a ruling: coffee sellers in California need to put a warning on the label of coffee to let consumers know that coffee contains a "possible carcinogen."

You may have seen the headline "Starbucks Coffee causes Cancer with acrylamide" on moments-yes, that's what it's about. However, acrylamide is not limited to coffee, but is widely found in a variety of starchy baked foods; it is not a new discovery, and acrylamide has been known to be present in these foods for nearly 20 years.

Then why didn't many people talk about it in your moments before? Because this substance is not very dangerous. It is in an awkward position: a large number of animals contact with it can cause cancer, but in reality, humans can eat less than 1/1000 of the amount of cancer caused by animals, and so far no clear link has been found between it and human cancer. What can you do with this position?

In the California case, plaintiffs sued 90 companies that sold coffee (including companies like McDonald's and 7-Eleven). Some companies have chosen to settle and agree to mark, while others may choose to continue to appeal, so the ruling may still be overturned.

But let's not talk about the law for the time being. Let's talk about acrylamide.

Acrylamide: it's a little suspicious, there's no evidence.

Acrylamide in coffee is produced during roasting. In fact, the American Cancer Society (ACS) points out that as long as a food contains starch and amino acids and is cooked at a high temperature, it produces trace amounts of acrylamide, especially in fried and baked foods. This covers a wide range of foods, from French fries and chips to biscuit bread.

Coffee produces trace amounts of acrylamide when roasted at high temperatures, as do foods such as toast and French fries. Source: 123rf.com.cn genuine Photo Gallery

Despite the California court's ruling, there is no scientific relationship between cancer and cancer. It is true that heavy consumption of acrylamide in animals can increase the risk of cancer, but in reality, no one will pour a bottle of acrylamide into their stomachs, and the amount they eat from food is too little. So the American Cancer Society originally said: "currently, no increased risk of any type of cancer is clearly associated with the intake of acrylamide." The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) lists acrylamide as a cause of cancer, but does not include foods that contain acrylamide. They had listed coffee as a category 2B carcinogen (possibly carcinogenic) many years ago, but dropped it from the 2B list the year before last because follow-up evidence did not support the earlier preliminary results. (but as a friendly reminder, we're talking about cold or warm coffee. Any drink above 65 degrees Celsius will increase the risk of esophageal cancer, whether you drink coffee or plain boiled water. )

Ideally, we should not wrongly accuse the good guys, nor should we let the bad guys go. However, this kind of thing, which is slightly suspicious but has no evidence, does not seem to be appropriate in any way. In the past, some fast food restaurants have posted such warnings on their French fries packaging, and some companies are studying how to reduce acrylamide in food. FDA issued a guide the year before last, but no organization has given a mandatory standard for acrylamide in food.

However, California law does require warnings for substances that cause cancer risk, and the defendants failed to prove in court that it was absolutely harmless. Therefore, this is the present verdict.

So I'm going to avoid acrylamide and stop drinking coffee?

It is difficult to avoid acrylamide completely because it is so widespread that it is difficult to avoid starch fried baked goods at all. Meat, eggs, milk, fish and other substances basically do not produce acrylamide during processing, but regardless of nutritional balance, red meat can definitely cause cancer.

And what if you want to avoid coffee for this? Then there is another problem: apart from acrylamide, the remaining ingredients of coffee seem to be healthy, and the evidence is stronger. The U.S. government's own dietary guidelines believe that coffee is part of a healthy lifestyle, and the evidence is that coffee may be associated with reduced mortality from cardiovascular disease and may prevent diseases such as Parkinson's and type 2 diabetes.

In short, acrylamide is a suspected carcinogen but there is no evidence that it is ubiquitous in food and is not serious enough to deserve attention. Of course, if you are willing to stop drinking coffee because of the California ruling, this is also your own choice.

Author: fruit shell net