Acrylamide? It’s bad stuff, as one might guess by the sinister name. Acrylamide is a carcinogenic byproduct of baking, roasting, frying, or toasting starchy foods. There’s still not a lot of information about this chemical, but needless to say it’s best to minimize intake of any carcinogens! To decrease its levels in roasted coffee, you simply roast the coffee longer. The problem is, doing so decreases the amount of antioxidants, and also reduces the flavor qualities. So, there’s a balance somewhere…the acrylamides may be harmful, but the antioxidants in coffee may offset that to some extent. This is an avenue I expect will be studied more, and in the meantime, it doesn’t sound like there’s enough information to draw any conclusions from, let alone make any changes in coffee consumption habits. (read more)
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