Drinking instant coffee is more carcinogenic than smoking?

At the beginning of May, an article entitled "Instant coffee can't be drunk, carcinogens are more than smoking" began to spread on major mainstream websites across the country, saying that the concentration of acrylamide detected in instant coffee was higher than that of potato chips, French fries, cakes and cigarettes. The harm of drinking instant coffee was far greater than smoking."It's better to quit instant coffee than to quit smoking."

The reporter then asked a number of nutrition and food experts for confirmation. They recommended the reporter to find Professor Zhang Ying of Zhejiang University Food College.

"For nearly 10 years, the media all over the country have always asked me about potato chips. You're the first to ask about the risks of instant coffee." Professor Zhang Ying said quickly on the phone yesterday that we undertake the national project "effectively reduce the hazards in hot processed foods", this "hazard" mainly refers to acrylamide. Last year, we drafted a national standard for acrylamide in fried foods such as potato chips and French fries. This year, mainly to control the acrylamide in instant coffee research.

Zhang Ying told reporters, Online about "Instant coffee can not drink" Article she also read, Some of the data is true, But analogy and judgment conclusion biased and wrong.

First of all, instant coffee does contain acrylamide. In 1994, the International Center for Research on Cancer classified acrylamide as a class 2A carcinogen, i.e., potentially carcinogenic to humans, but epidemiological evidence is still lacking.

So, where does acrylamide come from in instant coffee? She explained that raw green coffee is free, and when green coffee is roasted to coffee beans at high temperatures, it contains about 300 micrograms of acrylamide per kilogram; when instant coffee is extracted from coffee beans, it contains as much as 700 to 1000 micrograms of acrylamide per kilogram. Usually, instant coffee contains two to three times as much acrylamide as coffee beans.

"When baking, frying and other heating processes exceed 120℃, acrylamide will be produced in food, and the higher the temperature and the longer the heating time, the more acrylamide will be formed." Therefore, including potato chips, French fries, barley tea, fried dishes, etc., whether fried or not fried, as long as the heating degree is sufficient, and even cigarette burning, acrylamide will be produced.

The reporter asked, instant coffee, potato chips and cigarettes which contains a high concentration of acrylamide? Zhang Ying replied,"Ten years ago, the acrylamide content in potato chips was higher than that of instant coffee in the same unit." Through the improvement of potato chip production process to reduce acrylamide over the years, the content of both is now similar. Cigarette burning, in contrast, releases the lowest amount of acrylamide."

Although instant coffee and cigarettes both contain acrylamide, there is no simple analogy. The former, she said, is a thermally processed food, while the latter is a tobacco product with different attributes. If you must "compare", then smoking has the greatest risk of cancer and has long been confirmed by WHO.

Cigarette smoke is known to contain more than 4000 chemicals, of which more than 400 are confirmed to be toxic to humans and about 60 are carcinogens or synergistic carcinogens. As early as 2009, WHO classified cigarettes and arsenic as "equally lethal high-risk carcinogens." WHO not only bans smoking but also "other forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship." Acrylamide in instant coffee is, at best, a "potential carcinogen." Moreover, most people drink instant coffee more often than they smoke.

In a word, the saying that drinking instant coffee is more carcinogenic than smoking does not hold true. "Instant coffee is safe to drink!"

Of course, saying that instant coffee has a small carcinogenic risk is not advocating uncontrolled drinking. Zhang Ying recalled that in April 2005, the Ministry of Health issued a notice recommending that Chinese people reduce the intake of foods containing acrylamide, which are potato fried foods, cereal fried foods, cereal baked foods and other foods in turn. "Although instant coffee, barley tea, corn tea and other contents rank low, they should not be taken lightly."

"How much instant or freshly ground coffee should I drink per day?" the reporter asked. "This is exactly what we are studying." She frankly said that compared with potato chips, instant noodles and foreign fast food, the formation mechanism and production pathway of acrylamide in instant coffee have not yet been clarified, and it is also a world problem in hot processed foods at present.

"Whether it's instant coffee or freshly ground coffee, first of all, it's appropriate. The daily limit should not exceed 5 bags (cups)." Zhang Ying said her recommendations refer to the 2015 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for American Residents, which states that "there is strong evidence that drinking 3 to 5 cups of coffee a day is a healthy diet and even reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease." Some advice: don't get extra calories from cream, milk and sugar; discourage super-sized energy drinks popular in supermarkets; and limit pregnant women to two cups of coffee a day."

"If you drink coffee as water and consume too much caffeine, your brain will turn from excitement to depression, and you will probably become depressed." she reminded.

Source: Xinhua Daily Reporter: Lin Pei