Study from Sweden

[Liane H]

Hi Brethren:

This study from Sweden seems to confirm what we have said about certain foods all along.

I wonder on the bread if they took those breads that have little or no fiber in which this high amount of acrylamide was found or in all types of bread?

http://msnbc.com/news/743063.asp?pne=msn

This tells us the more we prepare our own food and avoid manufactured foods the better we are.

liane

[Richard Myers]

I heard the report yesterday and discounted it's conclusion. Whole grain bread and rice are very important to our health and this report brings them both into question. If there is something carcinogenic in our bread,  then it is added in the growing or processing of the wheat. It will be interesting to eventually, maybe find out the truth.  

Richard

[Liane H]

Hi Richard:

Over the last few days I have tried to find more information regarding the food that was tested.

Such as what kind of bread did they test. Was it inriched bleached flour or whole grain breads. They apparently are speaking of only those foods subject to very high and intense heat or also food cooked in deep fat.

We know that certain foods such as carrots or potatoes when cooked over a period of time change and have more sugar in them than if eaten raw.

I think it goes back to how we prepare our food for eating and what types of cooking process that we use.

We also know the less cooking done is much better for our health and give us more of the nutrients that we need from the food eaten.

I think that is the point needed from this finding and should help people realize that they need to alter some of the ways in which they prepare food.

Liane

 

[Curt]

Here is the article on Bread Cancer and Chips. I saved it and had not gotten opportunity to post it earlier. There is still need for more information on the research as well as the types of oil used in the baked bread and fries. However, this brought such concern that the World Health Organization was expected to call an emergency meeting to discuss the report.

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Bread, fries may be cancer risk

Research finds carcinogen formed during frying, baking
In just one bag of potato chips, Swedish scientists found 500 times more of a probable carcinogen than what’s considered safe.


By Robert Hager
NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT
April 24 —  French fries, potato chips, breads, cereal and other popular high-carbohydrate foods may contain high levels of a compound that probably causes cancer, according to an alarming study released Wednesday by Swedish food authorities. The carcinogen, called acrylamide, appears to form when carbohydrates are heated in a certain way, such as by frying potatoes or baking bread, researchers found.

  SCIENTISTS at Stockholm University first made the surprising discovery while carrying out research on the effects of cooking staple foods such as cereals, rice and potatoes, in which they found acrylamide, which is thought to cause cancer.
      Sweden’s National Food Administration followed up on the research and tested more than 100 different samples of carbohydrate-rich foods subjected to high heat through frying, deep-frying or baking.  
In laboratory animals, acrylamide causes tumors, so the U.S. government lists it as a “probable” cause of cancer in humans.

        In just one bag of potato chips, they found 500 times more acrylamide than what’s considered safe. In french fries from Swedish outlets of the most popular American hamburger chains, they found 100 times the safe limit, and high levels too, in cereals made by U.S. companies.
     
‘PROBABLE’ CAUSE OF CANCER
      In laboratory animals, acrylamide causes tumors, so the U.S. government lists it as a “probable” cause of cancer in humans.
      “The Swedish discovery is astonishing because nobody suspected that this potent carcinogen would be in our food supply,” said Michael Jacobson, head of Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group that monitors food safety.
      Jacobson says the U.S. government should get involved quickly.  

        “The Food and Drug Administration immediately should evaluate the Swedish report and conduct tests of foods here in the United States.”
      Officials with the FDA did not immediately comment. But in the meantime, scientists caution that this is just one study with a controversial finding that will need more work to verify.
      So for now, they do not recommend changes in eating, other than noting it’s a good idea to limit fried foods anyway — if simply to avoid fat and cholesterol.

“I think we need to step back a little bit and wait for greater discussion of the issue and see the findings presented in more detail,” Carl Winter, a toxicologist at the University of California at Davis, told the Associated Press. “The most important thing is not the presence or absence of any type of ingredient, but how much is there.”
     
FURTHER QUESTIONS
      Winter pointed out that it was unusual for such results to be released before publication in a scientific journal and said more investigation was needed.  

         “I would caution consumers to be a little patient here,” he said. “Cancer’s a very scary word, but one has to understand how these tests are done.”
      Grocery manufacturers, who have a lot at stake in this debate, criticize the study.
      “To our knowledge, the report was released before it was reviewed by other scientists, so it’s very inconclusive. But what we do know is that there’s not enough data to warrant any consumers overreacting, or changing their dietary habits,” said Gene Grabowski of the Grocery Manufacturers of America.
      But others say it’s important to get answers soon, because the items like bread, cereal, chips and fries are so popular and tend to be consumed in large quantities.
     
      The Associated Press contributed to this report.

***

[Richard Myers]

There is a big difference between whole wheat bread and fries and chips. I would not give any encouragement to the idea that whole wheat bread that is baked will cause cancer. The only ingredients that one needs to make wholesome good tasting bread is wheat, water, yeast, honey and salt. None of which cause cancer. Thoroughly baking the bread in pans lightly oiled with olive oil will not cause the bread to become a carcinogen.

Such bread eaten a few days after baking along with fruit as it comes off the tree provides the nourishment we need.

Richard

[Curt]

Just now reading Richard's post as I have an update on the Acrylamide controversy. Some bake bread with much butter, lard, oil (various), etc. and others do not. These have to be considered before one considers throwing out the baked goods and bread.

Following is an update on the Acrylamide controversy. Following the first Swedish report the Norwegian government ordered tests to be conducted on 30 food items. They confirmed the previous study. The article mentions knowledge of other known harmful chemicals in fried foods but did not list them. Article follows.

[Curt]

The controversy should direct our attention to the process of deep frying and "fast" baking (breads, chips and pizza)for production, rather than the mere cooking of carbohydrates. Much information is needed. This finding now has world wide attention and I am sure we will be seeing MANY articles and reports in the coming months from independant labs and food manufacturers with conflicting results. MacDonald, Wendy's ets won't close down or stop frying until a conclusive report is filed and there is an order restricting a "specific" process. So let the buyer beware.

Norwegian Study Finds Possible Cancer Risk From Some Fried Foods
June 7, 2002
OSLO, Norway (AP) -- The Norwegian Food Control Authority said Thursday that a scientific study found high levels of a probable cancer-causing substance in several high carbohydrate foods that it said confirmed findings in Sweden.

The governmental agency ordered the chemical analysis of some 30 foods after Swedish scientists in April reported that potato chips, french fries and other high carbohydrate foods contain acrylamide, which may cause cancer.

Acrylamide forms when carbohydrates are heated in some cooking processes such as deep-frying potatoes or baking bread, according to the findings.

"Some carbohydrate-rich fried foods contain large quantities of the suspected cancer causing substance acrylamide," the agency said in a statement.

Mary Ellen Camire, a food scientist and nutritionist at the University of Maine, was skeptical.

She said fried foods contain a lot of chemicals that aren't healthy but that the link between cancer and acrylamide wasn't clear and there was no reason to tell people to stop eating food products just because they contain the chemical.

"Bread and rye crisps and breakfast cereals have a lot of health benefits. And if we start cutting back on those, what's going to fill the void?" she said.

After the Swedish study was released, the World Health Organization announced plans for a meeting of experts on the relationship between high carbohydrate foods and cancer, saying more study was required.

At the time, WHO said that while much is known about the effects of acrylamide on animals, there is far less information about its effect on humans. It said the Swedish findings did not change basic dietary advice to eat less fat and more fruit and vegetables.

The Norwegian agency used the types of foods identified by the Swedes as high in acrylamide as a basis for picking products from grocery stores in Oslo to be analyzed.

The study found that potato chips had the highest acrylamide level, 90 times higher than bread, which had the lowest level.

The authority noted great variation between brands, indicating that production techniques can reduce the levels in a product.

"We are in a close dialogue with food producers and have been informed that they are working actively to reduce the acrylamide levels in Norwegian food," agency director Gunnar Jordfald said.

The scientists also estimated that acrylamide in fried foods causes about 1 percent of diet-related cancer cases - or about 30 Norwegian a year - in the nation of 4.5 million people.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Curt]

Now a naturally occurring Amino acid is nailed as the culprit producing acrylamide when subjected to high heat. Fruits, nuts, grains, vegetables and legumes still the best of foods. Report follows :

Scientists Find Clue To Carcinogen
September 30, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Scientists have found a clue to the chemical reaction that may cause potato chips, french fries and other fried or baked starchy foods to build up high levels of a possible cancer-causing substance.
The suspect is asparagine, a naturally occurring amino acid that, when heated with certain sugars such as glucose, leads to the formation of the worrisome substance acrylamide.
The Food and Drug Administration has made studying acrylamide's risk and determining how to lower its levels in food one of its highest research priorities, according to a plan that agency officials were to discuss Monday with consumer groups and food manufacturers.
Canada's government made the discovery about the suspect chemical reaction and has ordered food manufacturers to look for ways to alter it and thus lower levels of acrylamide in food. Cincinnati-based manufacturer Procter & Gamble Co. says its scientists, too, have found the asparagine connection.
It is the first clue to emerge in the mystery of acrylamide since Swedish scientists made the surprise announcement in the spring that high levels of the possible carcinogen are in numerous everyday foods: french fries, potato chips, some types of breakfast cereals and breads - plenty of high-carbohydrate foods that are fried or baked at high temperatures. The chemical was not found in boiled foods, which are cooked at lower temperatures.
Sweden's findings were confirmed in June by governments in Norway, Britain and Switzerland, and preliminary testing of several hundred foods by the FDA suggests U.S. foods contain similar acrylamide levels, said Richard Canady, who is directing the agency's assessment of acrylamide's risk.
Acrylamide is used to produce plastics and dyes and to purify drinking water. Although traces have been found in water, no one expected high levels to be in basic foods.
It causes cancer in test animals, but it has not been proved to do so in people. Still, Swedish scientists have said the levels are high enough that foodborne acrylamide might be responsible for several hundred cases of cancer in that country each year.
In the United States, the FDA has been careful to caution that acrylamide so far is only a suspected carcinogen. The FDA has not yet advised consumers to alter their diets to avoid it.
Still uncertain is whether the FDA, once it finishes testing different foods next year, will publicly identify which brands contain the most acrylamide - information wanted by consumer advocates.
For now, Canady said, "We want to reinforce ... eating a balanced diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables. That's the best way to ensure that you're getting adequate nutrition."
The FDA has an impressive research plan but "should give the public better advice," said Michael Jacobsen of the consumer group Center for Science in the Public Interest.
"People should be consuming less french fries and potato chips for other reasons - the salt, the calories, the fat - and the government should have been urging that anyway. Here's yet another reason," he said.
The food industry stresses that while fried potato products are getting most of the bad publicity - most testing so far shows the highest levels in them - acrylamide is in a wide variety of foods. Procter & Gamble said Friday that its testing found acrylamide in such previously unimplicated foods as roasted asparagus and banana chips.
"The other aspect people need to look at is while a french fry or a potato chip may be high ... in concentration, it still comes down to what is the total contribution of that food to the diet," said Henry Chin of the National Food Processors Association.
Asparagine is in lots of vegetables, Chin noted.
Regardless, the asparagine clue is encouraging, Chin and Jacobsen said.
Different varieties of potatoes contain different levels of both asparagine and glucose. That might explain varying acrylamide levels among different brands - levels in french fries, for instance, vary widely among fast-food restaurants. Pick a different potato and a brand's acrylamide level might drop.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Clive Nevell]

Reading in today's Sydney Morning Herald I find a report that is very similar to what has been posted here in regard to the possible causes of cancer. In the paper we are given the impreesion that this is just hot off the press when in fact Brother Curt first posted here about some time ago. It just shows that fresh is best and to eat as God gave us with as little cook as possible.
Clive

"By Deborah Smith, Science Writer
October 2 2002

Scientists believe they have found why a potentially cancer-causing chemical can form in foods such as hot chips, potato crisps and cereal crackers.
Sadly, the process that makes them taste good might also be what makes them a potential risk.
Two separate teams, in Britain and Switzerland, have shown that acrylamide is created in the chemical reaction that gives roasted and baked foods their colour and flavour."

[Curt]

Bro Clive.
this issue has caused a lot of anxiety among the fast food shops and restaurants (those who care about you) and has forced our health protection agencies to go into overdrive to analyze the problem. Where it has not been told was probably to lower the risk of public outcry for quick action to be taken.

As one favorite radio program of mine says at the end :
"And now you know the rest of the story"  

[Suzanne]

Thanks Br. Curt and all for the info on this important subject. Here is more:

WASHINGTON--Concerned about a chemical only recently discovered in food, the Food and Drug Administration is starting an investigation to see whether people risk getting cancer from eating fried and baked foods.

The chemical, acrylamide, has for years been designated as a probable carcinogen--a cancer causing agent. But no one thought it was in food until last year when Swedish scientists announced they had found it in fried foods and some breads and other foods baked at high temperatures. The World Health Organization confirmed the findings and urged further research.

"It is clear that acrylamide is a probelm," United States, FDA Deputy Commissioner Lester Crawford said. "It doesn't need to be in food."

The FDA is in the process of testing baby food, canned beans, cereals, chocolates, cookies, crackers, French fries, infant formulas, nuts, nut butters, potato chips, meat and other foods, Dr. Lauren Posnick of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition announced at a public meeting on the issue.

She said her team has sampled 150 or 600 targeted foods. French fries and potato chips had a varying amount of acrylamides, some with a high amount. Some crackers and nuts also contained the compounds. --adapted from the Los Angeles Times, Oct. 1, 2002.

Comment: I'm reminded of statements in the Spirit of Prophecy regarding baking our own bread, and other health articles that advise us that it is best to eat our nuts in a unheated, raw state.

Suzanne

[Sister Marie]

I find the following interesting in what Ellen White tells us about baking bread. I have one question. She says not to use soda and baking power, but to use other methods. Does anyone know what those other methods are??
(If this is in the wrong place maybe we could make a new topic....)

                                                       M. H.--300-302
    For use in bread making, the superfine white flour is not the best. Its use is neither healthful nor economical. Fine-flour bread is lacking in nutritive elements to be found in bread made from the whole wheat. It is a frequent cause of constipation and other unhealthful conditions. {TSDF 10.7}

    The use of soda or baking powder in bread-making is harmful and unnecessary. Soda causes inflammation of the stomach and often poisons the entire system. Many housewives think that they can not make good bread without soda, but this is an error. If they would take the trouble to learn better methods, their bread would be more wholesome, and, to a natural taste, it would be more palatable. {TSDF 10.8}

    In the making of raised or yeast bread, milk should not be used in place of water. The use of milk is an additional expense, and it makes the bread much less wholesome. Milk bread does not keep sweet so long after baking as does that made with water, and it ferments more readily in the stomach. {TSDF 10.9}

    Bread should be light and sweet. Not the least taint of sourness should be tolerated. The loaves should be small, and so thoroughly baked that, so far as possible, the yeast germs shall be destroyed. When hot, or new, raised bread of any kind is difficult of digestion. It should never appear on the table. This rule does not, however, apply to unleavened bread. Fresh rolls made of wheaten meal, without yeast or leaven, and baked in a well-heated oven, are both wholesome and palatable. . . . {TSDF 10.10}

    Zwieback, or twice baked bread, is one of the most easily digested and most palatable of foods. Let ordinary raised bread be cut in slices and dried in a warm oven till the last trace of moisture disappears. Then let it be browned slightly all the way through. In a dry place this bread can be kept much longer than ordinary bread, and if reheated before using, it will be as fresh as when new. {TSDF 10.11}

                                                          MS.--3--'97
    Great care should be taken when the change is made from a flesh-meat to a vegetarian diet to supply the table with wisely prepared, well-cooked articles of food. So much porridge eating is a mistake. The dry food that requires mastication is far preferable. The health food preparations are a blessing in this respect. Good brown bread and rolls, prepared in a simple manner....

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With Christian Love,
Sister Glass

[WendyForsyth]

Sister Glass,

There are baking powder substitutes out there that don't contain aluminum which I think is the most harmful thing in baking powder. If I am not correct someone please help me out. I don't have the name offhand, but a health food store should be able to tell you of some varieties.

God bless,
Wendy

[Richard Myers]

I don't believe aluminum is the problem with baking soda and powder.  

Of course yeast bread solves the problem for leavening, but for unleavened bread they would make gems that would raise when hitting a very hot iron mold. we do the same process with a waffle iron. It makes a very nice light unleavened bread.

Gem pans are cast iron and have separate baking areas like muffin tins.  

Richard

[WendyForsyth]

But you forgot to say what is the reason for not using baking powder.

I've wanted to make those gems for quite awhile. Do you have a recipe for how to make them?

Maranatha!!!

WendyF

[Curt]

Sister Glass -
Baking Powder is un-necessary in baking bread as good counsel tells us. I visited my dad last year and had a similar experience when I went to bake some bread. He came into the kitchen and was quite puzzled as to how bread can be made as I told him it should. He remarked that it was the best bread (leavened) that he has eaten and all I added was salt, yeast and some olive oil with good kneading (he likes heavy bread).

One thing you will learn as you follow God's way is that your FAITH is increased. Try to bake without the baking powder by FAITH. Alluminium free baking powder is still baking powder and should be avoided. I believe it neutralizes the saliva and causes fermentation in the stomach as well. Fermentation in the stomach affects the PH in the digestive tract as well and thereby also affects the flora in which our friendly bacteria live. I am looking for my notes on it and will post as soon as I find it.

[This message has been edited by Curt (edited 10-08-2002).]

[WendyForsyth]

Thanks Brother Curt! I'll look forward to your response.

I found the baking powder substitute in my cupboard. I've never used it (which tells you how much baking I do-OUCH!). It has in it Monocalcium Phosphate, Potato starch, and Potassium bicarbonate instead of Sodium Bicarbonate. Could you please give me your opinion on these ingredients and let me know if there is anything wrong with them?

Thank you,
WendyF

[Sister Marie]

Thank you Curt, that was very informative. We like corn bread around here and I am going to make it without baking power and soda from now on.
It is nice to understand the whys so one can pass it on to others with knowledge. Thank you and looking forward to anything else you might have on it.

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With Christian Love,
Sister Glass

[Richard Myers]

Sister Wendy, the last time I made them was 15 years ago.  Sorry, I don't recall exactly what was in them. Try your corn bread recipe. It will probably work great.

Sister Glass, try some pulp from soy milk, or just whiz some soy beans and water and use the mix with your corn bread. Just a little will do. It will act as a leaving agent and give you a little lighter bread. Experiment and the Lord will bless. It is a promise!  

Richard

[Joan]

Rejoice with those who rejoice,
Mourn with those who mourn.

I hearby with grief report that my oven gave up the ghost of energy yesterday after 24 years of service.No heat coming through the coils whatsoever. No more baking possibilities for me.

Until Alfred gets over the shock of knowing he will have to buy me a new stove,two months will go by. The top right heating cooking plate is working and he's in no rush to get me something new.

Great comfort to know the place where I can buy good wholewheat bio-bread,though.

Joan
(who just looooves cornbread)