Do roast potatoes and burnt toast increase the risk of cancer?

Eating certain foods that have been cooked at high temperatures could be linked to cancer, according to health officials.The danger foods include chips, toast, biscuits, crackers, crisps, breakfast cereals (except for porridge), coffee, cooked pizza bases, black olives and cereal-based baby foods.Also on the list are root vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, beetroot, turnip, swede and parsnips once they have been fried until dark brown or crispy.

We’re not asking people to cut out certain foods. This is about reducing your overall lifetime risk through simple steps.

C.Gavin Shears

When cooked at high temperatures (above 120C) a chemical compound forms called acrylamide and studies on mice have shown that high levels of it can cause neurological damage and cancer. Studies in humans have proved inconclusive. However, the US Environmental Protection Agency has said it is “likely to be carcinogenic to humans” and the International Agency for Research on Cancer described it as a “probable human carcinogen”.