UK warning over traditional toast, potato diet
Print Edition
A government health warning over the potential dangers of toast, roast potatoes and chips — all traditional staples of the British diet — had the country’s tabloids hitting out yesterday.
The Food Standards Agency said acrylamide, a chemical substance formed when foods with high starch content are cooked at very high temperatures, “has the potential to cause cancer in humans.”
“It would be prudent to reduce exposure,” it said.
The agency urged British consumers to “#GoForGold” by opting for a gold color rather than a darker brown when frying, roasting, baking, grilling or toasting.
It also said potatoes should not be stored in the fridge, which can increase acrylamide levels, and potatoes cut into larger wedges to reduce their surface area when cooked to limit levels.
“You’ve Had Your Chips,” roared a front-page headline in Britain’s best-selling newspaper, The Sun. “Health officials say burning starchy foods such as spuds, bread and pizza dough may increase the risks — despite no study proving the link,” it said.
Several reports pointed out that tests cited by the government had only confirmed that acrylamide in the diet causes cancer in animals, not in humans.
Britons consume an estimated 382 million portions of fish and chips every year and there some 10,500 around “chippies” around the country.
Toast is Britain’s favorite breakfast and teatime food, while roast potatoes are a Sunday lunch staple.
“Should we give up toast?” BBC News tweeted, while the middle market Daily Mail tabloid assured readers: “Burnt toast isn’t dangerous — unless you have 320 slices each day.”
Some experts said there were far more well-established and significant foods and habits linked to cancer risk such as smoking, drinking and being overweight, and consumers should focus on changing those above all else.
“Evidence from animal studies shows that acrylamide has the potential to interact with the DNA in our cells, so could be linked to cancer,” the charity Cancer Research UK said in a response to the FSA’s announcement. “However, evidence from human studies has shown that, for most cancer types, there is no link between acrylamide and cancer risk.”
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