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The association between self-reported acrylamide intake and hemoglobin adducts as biomarkers of exposure

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Abstract

Background

The validity of epidemiological studies assessing a lifetime cancer risk due to environmental factors, such as nutrition or smoking behavior strongly depends on the validity of the patient’s history.

Objectives

This study assesses whether a standardized questionnaire is a valid tool to identify exposure with acrylamide by relating the self-reported food and smoking history with a biomarker, namely hemoglobin-adduct levels of acrylamide.

Methods

Objective parameters of previous exposure, such as hemoglobin-adduct levels of acrylamide and of the smoking-specific acrylonitrile, respectively, were related to self-reported data in 1,008 volunteers of the general population in bivariate analyses and a multiple linear regression analysis using the log-transformed biomarker levels as outcome.

Results

Smoking was significantly associated with adduct levels of acrylamide (p < 0.0001) and had a main contribution to the internal burden with acrylamide. In cigarette smokers a strong correlation between the number of cigarettes smoked daily and the corresponding biomarkers was observed. Focusing on non-smokers (n = 828), a significant but weak correlation was found in bivariate analyses (Spearman rank correlation coefficient: 0.178 (95% CI: 0.089–0.268) in females and 0.168 (95% CI: 0.063–0.273) in males. A multiple linear regression analysis similarly yielded evidence of a significant association between the highest intake category and adduct levels; however, explained variability was very small (R2 = 0.08).

Conclusion

Self-reported data concerning smoking behavior were highly valid, while self-reported food intake is apparently not as useful for estimating food-related acrylamide exposure.

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Acknowledgments

The study was founded by the Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection. We thank all involved persons from the Bavarian State offices of health and consumer protection and of the local health offices in Bavaria, especially Dr. rer. nat. Ursula Schwegler, for their efforts in recruiting volunteers. Additionally we thank all volunteers of the Bavarian population for participation in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute and Outpatient Clinic of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Schillerstr. 25 + 29, 91054, Erlangen, Germany

    Birgitta Kütting & Hans Drexler

  2. Department of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Waldstraße 6, 91054, Erlangen, Germany

    Wolfgang Uter

Authors
  1. Birgitta Kütting
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  2. Wolfgang Uter
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  3. Hans Drexler
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Correspondence to Birgitta Kütting.

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Kütting, B., Uter, W. & Drexler, H. The association between self-reported acrylamide intake and hemoglobin adducts as biomarkers of exposure. Cancer Causes Control 19, 273–281 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-007-9090-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-007-9090-9

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