Cancer-causing Coffee. Wait, what?

I recently heard a news story that researchers may have linked coffee with cancer and that Starbucks was being targeted for not warning consumers of the risks. I remember reading the headline and then willfully pretending I didn’t see anything at all. I thoroughly enjoy my morning cappuccino routine!

Acrylamide- a chemical byproduct from roasting- was the culprit of this recent news report. In March, a California judge ruled that consumers should be warned because high doses of this chemical have the potential to cause cancer. In 2002, Swedish scientists found that high heat could contribute to the formation of acrylamide. The recent court ruling was based on subsequent laboratory experiments where animals were given high doses of the chemical.

It makes sense as a stand-alone policy, but I’m not so sure it’s a necessary step when other details about acrylamide are taken into context. The laboratory animals experimented on received much higher doses than we would normally find in our food. It also turns out that quite a few commonly consumed foods have acrylamide including cookies, cereals, and pretzels (all processed foods, on a side note). There seems to be a lot more scientific evidence that coffee actually reduces the risk of various types of cancer, in addition to having other benefits.

When I started researching this topic I was sure I’d conclude there is no rational basis for requiring cancer-causing coffee warning labels. Thinking about the larger food production crisis we have in the U.S., it doesn’t seem that irrational. It’s not much of an exaggeration from reality when you think of how much processed food we eat as a culture. Maybe the judge is trying to send a message to the food industry that processed foods (typically produced under high heat) are dangerous- and they are!

The Principle

Perhaps the judge in this ruling decided that based on principle, acrylamide is classified as a “probable carcinogen” and it could be dangerous for people who drink a lot of coffee.  They should, therefore, be made aware of the potential risk. There is a worthy basis for this argument, especially since many scientists do warn of the risks of consuming too much coffee. Although, it only makes sense that you’d have to put the same warning label on all those other foods that have similar levels of the chemical.

Sources: American Cancer Society, WebMD, and the National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.