You may want to reconsider your favorite breakfast meal as a new study has revealed that dark toasts and roast potatoes can give you cancer.
The study by the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) measured the amount of acrylamide – a cancer-causing toxin – in roast potatoes, chips and toast cooked in the home.
The FSA’s chief scientific adviser said the new research showed the need for roast potatoes and chips to be cooked to only “a light golden colour” and that bread should be toasted to “the lightest colour acceptable”.
Researchers with the FSA discovered that the crispier the roast potato or chip, the higher the levels of acrylamide they contained.
Guy Poppy, the FSA’s Chief Scientific Adviser, said in a report accompanying the study that the risk assessment indicates that at the levels we are exposed to from food, acrylamide could be increasing the risk of cancer.
Scientists are still unclear about what constitutes a safe level of acrylamide.
