Are Chips, Fries, and Cooked Potatoes Carcinogenic? What the Acrylamide Evidence Shows

Are chips, french fries, and cooked potatoes carcinogenic? They can contain acrylamide, a chemical that forms when starchy foods are fried, roasted, or baked at high heat and that causes cancer in animals at high doses. That is why health agencies call it a probable human carcinogen. But large studies of more than a million people have not found a clear link between dietary acrylamide and cancer. Cooking to a golden color rather than dark brown lowers exposure.

In January 2017, the UK Food Standards Agency launched a campaign called “Go for Gold,” advising people to cook chips, roast potatoes, and toast to a golden yellow color rather than dark brown, to reduce acrylamide. Headlines quickly announced that fries and potatoes were officially carcinogenic. The reality is more nuanced. Acrylamide is a real concern that regulators take seriously, but the risk from normal diets appears small, and the advice is about reducing exposure, not avoiding potatoes. This article explains how acrylamide forms, what animal and human studies show, how regulators handle it, and practical ways to cut intake.

What Is Acrylamide and How Does It Get Into Food?

Acrylamide is a chemical long used in industry to make plastics and to treat water. In 2002, Swedish scientists made an unexpected discovery. A study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry by Eden Tareke and colleagues reported substantial acrylamide in fried and baked carbohydrate-rich foods such as potato chips and french fries, while boiled foods had little or none. Within months, two papers in Nature explained why. Donald Mottram and colleagues and Richard Stadler and colleagues showed that acrylamide forms through the Maillard reaction, the browning process between amino acids and reducing sugars, with asparagine, an amino acid abundant in potatoes and cereals, playing the central role. Acrylamide is therefore a byproduct of cooking, not an additive, and it has likely been in human diets since people began roasting and frying starchy foods.

Which Foods Contain the Most Acrylamide?

Fried and roasted potato products, such as chips, french fries, and roast potatoes, are among the richest sources, along with crackers, crispbreads, some breakfast cereals, cookies, toasted bread, and roasted coffee. Darker, crispier, and more browned foods generally contain more. According to the FDA, acrylamide forms mainly in plant foods cooked at high temperatures, such as frying, roasting, and baking, and does not form, or forms at lower levels, in dairy, meat, and fish. Boiling and steaming do not typically produce it. Cigarette smoke is another major source, and smokers have much higher acrylamide exposure than nonsmokers.

Why Is Acrylamide Called a Probable Carcinogen?

Because of animal studies and how it behaves in the body. When rats and mice are given high doses of acrylamide in drinking water over long periods, they develop more tumors in several organs. In the body, acrylamide is converted to a compound called glycidamide, which can bind to DNA and cause mutations. On the basis of this evidence, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified acrylamide as “probably carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2A) in 1994, and the European Food Safety Authority concluded in 2015 that dietary acrylamide potentially increases cancer risk for consumers of all ages. These conclusions rest largely on animal data, where doses were far higher than what people eat, and on the general principle that chemicals that damage DNA may have no completely safe threshold.

Do Studies in People Show Acrylamide Causes Cancer?

Mostly no, at the levels people eat. A 2015 meta-analysis in the International Journal of Cancer by Claudio Pelucchi and colleagues combined 32 publications covering 14 cancer sites. It found no meaningful association between dietary acrylamide and most cancers, including breast, colorectal, lung, pancreatic, and prostate cancer. Only kidney cancer showed a borderline association, and among never-smokers there were borderline associations with endometrial and ovarian cancer. A 2022 dose-response meta-analysis in Frontiers in Nutrition by Tommaso Filippini and colleagues pooled 16 studies with more than 1.15 million participants followed for a median of almost 15 years and found no association between high dietary acrylamide intake and any site-specific cancer studied, apart from lung cancer among smokers, who also inhale acrylamide in tobacco smoke.

Some individual studies have raised specific concerns. A 2007 analysis of the Netherlands Cohort Study by Janneke Hogervorst and colleagues followed 62,573 women for 11.3 years. Among never-smokers, those with the highest acrylamide intake had about twice the risk of postmenopausal endometrial and ovarian cancer compared with the lowest intake, while breast cancer risk was not affected. Findings like this keep the question open for certain cancers, but they have not been consistently replicated.

Why Do Human Studies Struggle to Find a Link?

Several reasons make acrylamide hard to study in people. Most studies estimate intake from food questionnaires, but acrylamide levels in the same food vary widely depending on cooking time, temperature, and browning, so intake estimates are imprecise. Exposure in the general population falls within a fairly narrow range, which makes differences hard to detect. Smoking adds far more acrylamide than food for many people and must be carefully accounted for. Some studies have used blood markers, which are more accurate but available for fewer people. These limits mean a small effect could be missed, which is why agencies recommend keeping exposure as low as reasonably achievable rather than declaring a safe level.

How Do Regulators Handle Acrylamide?

By pushing manufacturers and consumers to reduce it rather than banning foods. The European Union adopted a regulation that took effect in 2018 requiring food businesses to apply mitigation measures and setting benchmark levels for products such as fries, potato chips, bread, cereals, and coffee. In the United States, the FDA issued guidance for industry in 2016 describing ways to reduce acrylamide in potato and cereal products. California lists acrylamide under Proposition 65, which led to a court ruling in 2018 that coffee sellers should post cancer warnings; the state then adopted a rule in 2019 exempting coffee, concluding that drinking coffee does not pose a significant cancer risk. In the UK, the Food Standards Agency’s acrylamide guidance encourages home cooks to aim for a golden color.

What Did the UK “Go for Gold” Campaign Recommend?

The Food Standards Agency’s 2017 campaign gave a short set of practical tips rather than telling people to give up any food. It advised aiming for a golden yellow color or lighter when frying, baking, toasting, or roasting starchy foods, following the cooking instructions on packaged foods such as oven chips, and eating a healthy, balanced diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables and limits fried foods. The campaign framed acrylamide as one of many reasons to vary the diet. Media coverage that described potatoes as officially carcinogenic went further than the agency’s own message.

How Does Acrylamide Compare With Other Cancer Risks?

It sits well below the major known risks. The International Agency for Research on Cancer places tobacco smoke, alcohol, and processed meat in Group 1, its highest category, meaning there is sufficient evidence they cause cancer in humans. Acrylamide is in Group 2A, “probably carcinogenic,” mainly because of animal evidence. These categories describe the strength of evidence that something can cause cancer, not how much risk a typical amount carries. For most people, not smoking, limiting alcohol, maintaining a healthy weight, being active, and eating plenty of plant foods will lower cancer risk far more than adjusting how brown their toast is, though both steps point in a healthy direction.

Should Restaurants Change How They Fry?

Many already have. Industry guidance in Europe and the United States encourages restaurants and fast-food chains to fry at controlled temperatures, typically no higher than about 175°C (347°F), avoid overcooking, use potato varieties suited to frying, and train staff to judge doneness by a golden color. Some chains use blanched, pre-processed fries designed to brown less. Customers who want lower acrylamide can ask for lightly cooked fries or choose baked or boiled potato sides when available.

How Can You Reduce Acrylamide at Home?

Simple cooking changes make a difference. Cook fries, roast potatoes, and other starchy foods to a golden yellow rather than dark brown, and avoid charring. Toast bread to the lightest color you enjoy. Soaking raw potato slices or fries in water for 15 to 30 minutes, then drying them, or briefly blanching them in boiling water before frying or roasting, washes away some of the sugars and asparagine that form acrylamide. Follow package instructions for frozen fries and oven chips, which manufacturers set partly to limit acrylamide. Boiling, steaming, and microwaving potatoes produce little or no acrylamide. Eating a varied diet, rather than relying heavily on fried and toasted starches, keeps exposure moderate.

Where Does Acrylamide Come From, and How Can You Cut It?

Source	Why acrylamide forms	Practical tip
French fries, chips, roast potatoes	High-heat frying or roasting of starchy potatoes	Soak or blanch first; cook to golden, not dark
Toast, crackers, crispbreads	Browning of grain products	Toast lightly; avoid burnt edges
Breakfast cereals, cookies	Baking and toasting during manufacture	Vary choices; manufacturers have reduced levels
Coffee	Roasting of coffee beans	Coffee drinking is not considered a significant cancer risk
Cigarette smoke	Burning tobacco	Quitting smoking cuts exposure far more than diet changes

How Much Acrylamide Do People Typically Eat?

Intakes are measured in micrograms, millionths of a gram. In the 2022 meta-analysis by Filippini and colleagues, the average estimated dietary intake across studies was about 23 micrograms a day. In the Dutch cohort, women in the lowest fifth of intake averaged about 9 micrograms a day and those in the highest fifth about 40 micrograms a day. Most of this comes from potato products, bread and other cereal foods, and coffee, with the mix varying by country and eating habits. These amounts are far lower than the doses that caused tumors in animal studies, though, as noted above, regulators do not assume any level is completely without risk for a DNA-damaging compound.

What Are Food Companies Doing to Lower Acrylamide?

Manufacturers use several methods. They choose potato varieties and storage conditions that keep sugar levels low, wash and blanch potato slices, adjust frying times and temperatures, and in some products add asparaginase, an enzyme that breaks down asparagine before cooking. Plant breeders have also developed potatoes with less asparagine and sugar; one example is a genetically engineered variety described in our article on Innate GMO potatoes, designed partly to produce less acrylamide when fried. Testing by regulators in Europe has shown that acrylamide levels in some product categories have fallen since mitigation measures were introduced, though levels still vary widely between brands.

Is Burnt Toast Dangerous?

Occasional burnt toast is not a reason for alarm, but there is no benefit to eating it. Darker toast contains more acrylamide than lightly toasted bread, so the UK and other agencies suggest toasting to a light golden color and scraping off or discarding very dark or charred parts. The same applies to burnt edges on roast potatoes and baked goods. For someone who regularly eats heavily browned toast, switching to a lighter setting is an easy way to lower exposure without changing anything else about their diet.

Should You Stop Eating Potatoes?

No. Potatoes are a good source of potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and fiber, especially when eaten with the skin, and boiled, steamed, or baked potatoes cooked without heavy browning contain little acrylamide. The bigger health concern with chips and fries is that they are fried in oil, salted, and easy to overeat; research links frequent potato chip and french fry consumption to weight gain, as described in our article on potato chips and “natural” labels. Limiting fried potatoes is sensible for several reasons, of which acrylamide is only one.

Are Fried Potatoes Linked to Other Health Risks?

Possibly, though acrylamide is unlikely to be the main reason. A 2017 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Nicola Veronese and colleagues followed 4,400 North American adults for eight years. Overall potato intake was not linked to higher mortality, but people who ate fried potatoes two to three times a week had about twice the risk of death, and those eating them three or more times a week had about 2.3 times the risk, compared with people who rarely ate them. Unfried potatoes showed no such link. The study was observational and could not separate fried potatoes from the broader diet and lifestyle that often accompany them, such as more fast food and less exercise, but it supports treating fries as an occasional food.

Do Air Fryers Reduce Acrylamide?

They can, depending on how they are used. A 2015 laboratory study in the Journal of Food Science by María Sansano and colleagues compared air-frying with deep-oil frying of potatoes at 180°C and found air-frying reduced acrylamide by about 90 percent compared with conventional deep frying without pretreatment. Air fryers also use much less oil, which lowers calories and fat. However, air-fried potatoes can still brown heavily if cooked too long or too hot, so the same “golden, not dark” advice applies. Soaking slices before cooking reduces acrylamide further with any method.

Is Acrylamide a Concern for Children?

Children eat more food relative to their body weight than adults, so their estimated acrylamide exposure per kilogram tends to be higher, which is one reason European regulators set benchmark levels for foods such as baby biscuits and cereal-based foods for young children. Parents do not need to eliminate toast or potatoes, but it is reasonable to serve boiled, mashed, or lightly roasted potatoes more often than chips and fries, toast bread lightly, and offer a variety of foods so no single browned snack dominates the diet.

Common Myths

“Potatoes cause cancer.” Boiled and steamed potatoes contain little acrylamide, and studies have not linked normal dietary acrylamide to most cancers.

“Acrylamide is an additive.” It forms naturally during high-heat cooking of starchy foods.

“Organic chips have no acrylamide.” Acrylamide comes from cooking, not farming method.

“Coffee causes cancer because of acrylamide.” California exempted coffee from cancer warnings after concluding it poses no significant risk.

“A safe level has been proven.” Regulators advise keeping exposure as low as reasonably achievable instead.

Key Terms

Acrylamide: A chemical formed when starchy foods are cooked at high temperatures.

Maillard reaction: The browning reaction between amino acids and sugars during cooking.

Asparagine: An amino acid in potatoes and grains that is the main building block of acrylamide in food.

Glycidamide: The compound acrylamide is converted to in the body, which can damage DNA.

Group 2A: The cancer agency category for agents that are probably carcinogenic to humans.

The Bottom Line

Chips, fries, and other browned starchy foods contain acrylamide, a chemical that causes cancer in animals at high doses and is classified as a probable human carcinogen. That is why the UK and other agencies advise cooking to a golden color. Large studies of more than a million people, however, have not found a clear link between dietary acrylamide and most cancers, and some uncertainty remains for a few specific cancers. Potatoes themselves are not the problem: boiled and steamed potatoes contain little acrylamide. Cooking to golden, soaking potatoes first, and keeping fried foods occasional lower exposure and support a healthier diet overall.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are french fries and chips carcinogenic?

They contain acrylamide, which is classified as a probable human carcinogen based mainly on animal studies at high doses. Meta-analyses of human studies, including one with more than 1.15 million participants, have not found a clear link between dietary acrylamide and most cancers. Eating fries occasionally is not considered dangerous, but cooking them to a golden color lowers exposure.

How does acrylamide form in food?

Acrylamide forms during frying, roasting, baking, and toasting when the amino acid asparagine reacts with natural sugars in a browning process called the Maillard reaction. It occurs mainly in starchy plant foods such as potatoes and grains, and in roasted coffee. Boiling and steaming do not typically form acrylamide.

How can I reduce acrylamide when cooking potatoes?

Soak raw potato slices or fries in water for 15 to 30 minutes, or blanch them briefly, then dry before frying or roasting. Cook to a golden yellow color rather than dark brown, avoid burnt edges, and follow package instructions for frozen fries. Boiling, steaming, and microwaving potatoes produce little or no acrylamide.

Does coffee contain acrylamide?

Yes, roasting coffee beans produces acrylamide. However, California concluded in 2019 that drinking coffee does not pose a significant cancer risk and exempted it from Proposition 65 cancer warnings. Large studies of coffee drinkers generally do not show higher cancer risk, and coffee is linked to lower risk of some diseases.

Do air fryers lower acrylamide?

Laboratory research found air-frying potatoes reduced acrylamide by about 90 percent compared with conventional deep frying, while also using far less oil. Results depend on time and temperature, though, and over-browned air-fried potatoes can still contain significant acrylamide. Aim for a golden color with any cooking method.

References

1. Tareke E, Rydberg P, Karlsson P, et al. Analysis of acrylamide, a carcinogen formed in heated foodstuffs. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 2002;50(17):4998–5006. PMID 12166997
2. Mottram DS, Wedzicha BL, Dodson AT. Acrylamide is formed in the Maillard reaction. Nature. 2002;419(6906):448–449. PMID 12368844
3. Stadler RH, Blank I, Varga N, et al. Acrylamide from Maillard reaction products. Nature. 2002;419(6906):449–450. PMID 12368845
4. Pelucchi C, Bosetti C, Galeone C, et al. Dietary acrylamide and cancer risk: an updated meta-analysis. International Journal of Cancer. 2015;136(12):2912–2922. PMID 25403648
5. Filippini T, Halldorsson TI, Capitão C, et al. Dietary acrylamide exposure and risk of site-specific cancer: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of epidemiological studies. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2022;9:875607. PMID 35548558
6. Hogervorst JG, Schouten LJ, Konings EJ, et al. A prospective study of dietary acrylamide intake and the risk of endometrial, ovarian, and breast cancer. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. 2007;16(11):2304–2313. PMID 18006919
7. Veronese N, Stubbs B, Noale M, et al. Fried potato consumption is associated with elevated mortality: an 8-y longitudinal cohort study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2017;106(1):162–167. PMID 28592612
8. Sansano M, Juan-Borrás M, Escriche I, et al. Effect of pretreatments and air-frying, a novel technology, on acrylamide generation in fried potatoes. Journal of Food Science. 2015;80(5):T1120–T1128. PMID 25872656
9. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Acrylamide Questions and Answers. fda.gov
10. UK Food Standards Agency. Acrylamide. food.gov.uk

Last updated: October 10, 2026