Association between ultra-processed breakfast cereals and acrylamide

Resumen del póster presentado a la XXI EuroFoodChem Conference, celebrada on-line del 22 al 24 de noviembre de 2021.

The NOVA system is a strategy for classifying foods according to their degree of processing and for predicting subsequent risk of non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs). The NOVA food framework defines processed foods as simple products manufactured from unprocessed or minimally processed foods alongside salt, sugar, oil, or other substances frequently used as culinary ingredients. NOVA introduced the term ultra-processed foods. Worldwide consumption of ultra-processed foods is increasing significantly, and it represents between 25% and 60% of total daily energy intake in European countries, the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Latin American countries. The Nutrinet-Santé study concluded that various factors related to processing, the nutritional composition of the final product, additives, contact materials, and neoformed contaminants may play a role in the association between ultra-processed food intake, and overall risk of NCDs and cancer. The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) has identified acrylamide in food as a public health concern due to its relation with the appearance of different types of cancer. The European Commission established benchmark levels (BL) for the presence of acrylamide in breakfast cereals and identified three groups: 1) bran products and wholegrain cereals, and gun puffed grains (BL = 300 μg/kg); 2) wheat- and rye-based products (BL = 300 μg/kg), and 3) maize, oat, spelt, barley and rice-based products (BL = 150 μg/kg) [5]. Breakfast cereals comprise a huge family of cereal-based products, which contribute to dietary acrylamide exposure in humans. This investigation aims to elucidate the association between the NOVA classification of breakfast cereals and the acrylamide content. Fifty-three commercial breakfast cereal samples were obtained from Spanish supermarkets. Samples containing dried fruits, nuts, cocoa, filled cereals and novel grains were intentionally excluded. Samples were classified according to the NOVA system as unprocessed or minimally processed (NOVA-1, n=6), processed culinary ingredients (NOVA-2, not applied), processed (NOVA-3, n=16) and ultra-processed (NOVA-4, n=31). Ultra-processed breakfast cereals have a complex formulation which includes ingredients different from sugars, vitamins, or minerals, such as other sweeteners (starch, maltodextrin, dextrose, honey, caramel, extracts of malted and toasted cereals, glucose syrups, inverted sugar, caramel and maltitol), cinnamon, vegetal oil, salt, lactose, skimmed milk powder, and additives (emulsifying, colouring, flavouring, antioxidant, anti-caking, raising agents). The nutritional composition was recorded from manufacturer declarations. Acrylamide was determined by LC-ESI-MS/MS with isotopic dilution (ISO:EN:16618:2015). A quantitation limit (LOQ) of 20 μg/kg was set. Statistical analyses were performed using Statgraphics Centurion XV and SPSS v.23.0. Student t-test and analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) with Bonferroni’s multiple comparisons post hoc test was used. The NOVA-1 samples were wholegrain, mainly oat flakes. The NOVA-3 breakfast cereals were from rice, maize, wheat, or a mixture of cereals, and they contained added sugar and vegetable oil. The NOVA-4 breakfast cereals were formulated with oat, maize, wheat, or a mixture of cereals, and not only added sugar and vegetable oil, but also non-culinary ingredients and additives. The acrylamide content varied from < LOQ to 382 μg/kg. The mean was 108 μg/kg and median was 69 μg/kg. All samples with acrylamide content higher than BL in each food group belonged to NOVA-4. Acrylamide correlated significantly with sugar content and the NOVA food classification. No differences were revealed in relation to energy, saturated fat, sodium, fiber and protein content. Results pointed out that the greater occurrence of acrylamide in samples with higher sugar content could contribute to risk factors associated with the overconsumption of sugary foods. Significant differences between NOVA groups were found for acrylamide (p = 0.0072). The mean acrylamide content of breakfast cereals was 20, 75 and 142 μg/kg for samples classified as belonging to the NOVA-1, NOVA- 3 and NOVA-4 groups, respectively. However, differences between processed and ultra-processed breakfast cereals were not statistically significant. Main conclusions are; a) NOVA classification does not reflect the extent of the processing in terms of thermal intensity, b) the classification of a breakfast cereal as ultra-processed does not predict a significantly higher acrylamide content, c) sugar content was the only nutritional descriptor positively associated with the acrylamide content, regardless the type of grain or complexity of the formulation.

This research was funded by Comunidad of Madrid and European funding from FSE and FEDER programs, grant number project S2018/BAA-4393-AVANSECAL-II-CM.

Peer reviewed