15 April 2009
Vitamin B3 may inhibit the formation of acrylamide in French fries by over 50%, according to a new study from China.
The researchers tested the effects of 15 vitamins, both water- and fat-soluble, on the formation of the cancer-causing acrylamide in a model chemical system containing asparagines and glucose (the precursors for acrylamide), and in a model food system (fried potato strips). According to their findings, only vitamins B3 (nicotinic acid) and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) inhibited acrylamide formation by over 70% in the chemical model (1).
The effectiveness of vitamin B3 was eventually corroborated in fried potato strips, thus suggesting its great potential for application in food processing to decrease acrylamide formation in fried or baked foods.
Acrylamide is a suspected carcinogen that is formed during by heat-induced reaction between sugar and an amino acid called asparagine. This process is responsible for the brown color and tasty flavor of baked, fried and toasted foods. Despite being a carcinogen in the laboratory, many epidemiological studies have reported that everyday exposure to acrylamide in food is too low to be of concern.
Further studies are needed to characterize the action mechanism of the vitamins that showed strong inhibitory activity against the formation of acrylamide.
23 December 2013
A new US study reports that men with prostate cancer who ate a low-fat diet and took fish oil supplements had lower blood levels of pro-inflammatory substances and a lower cancer cell cycle progression score (a measure used to predict cancer recurrence) than men who ate a typical Western diet.
14 November 2017
In 2013, approximately 8.3 percent of the global population was thought to have Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). Learn more about the latest science focused on micronutients impacting Type 2 Diabetes.
31 May 2016
Early pre-term birth (ePTB) is defined as occurring at 34 weeks of pregnancy or earlier and imposes a considerable burden on mother, child and financial resources alike. Taking a 600mg per day supplement of Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) during the final two trimesters of pregnancy reduced early pre-term birth (ePTB) with a net average saving of $1,484 per pregnancy, according to a new study from the KUDOS (Kansas University DHA Outcome Study) cohort (1) in the U.S. This could produce total savings of $6 billion per year in the U.S.
