Would You Supersize My Cancer Please? by Coffelt and Richter

Part III—Journal Articles

For the next class period, your assignment is to read the journal articles “Acrylamide in French Fries: Influence of Free Amino Acids and Sugars” (Becalski et al., 2004) and “Acrylamide: The Next Food Safety Issue?” (Viator and Muth, 2004). Answer the following questions about each article and be ready to discuss the articles in class.

Questions

  1. List some differences and similarities you found in both the news article headlines from Part I and the scientific journal articles from Part III.
  2. List some differences and similarities you found in both of the scientific journal articles from Part III.
  3. According to the research, how did the researchers reduce acrylamide formation in French fries?
  4. What other foods contain acrylamide? Are these possible cancer risks as well?
  5. Do you think acrylamide should be reduced in foods?
  6. Taking into account the information from Parts I, II, and III, would you reduce your intake of French fries? Yes? No? Maybe? Explain your answer.

Resources

Becalski, A., B.P.-Y Lau, D. Lewis, S.W. Seaman, S. Hayward, M. Sahagian, M. Ramesh, and Y. Leclerc. 2004. Acrylamide in French Fries: Influence of Free Amino Acids and Sugars. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 52:3801–3806.
Viator, C., and M.K. Muth. 2004. Acrylamide: The Next Food Safety Issue? Choices 1st Quarter 2004:13–17.


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