Foodie Pundit

The Unsettling Rise of the Super-Snacker

New research published in a leading food science journal unpacks the health risks of acrylamide in french fries and snacks, revealing a post-pandemic surge amon

By Foodie Pundit Newsroom - Published - Updated - Section: Desserts Snacks

potato dinner plate

Key points

  • For a small group of "super-consumers," the dietary intake of the probable carcinogen acrylamide rose to concerning levels in the post-pandemic era.
  • The highest concentrations of acrylamide are found in common high-temperature cooked starchy foods like French fries and potato chips.
  • Scientists use a 'Margin of Exposure' to assess risk; for the highest snack consumers, this margin shrank to a level of 396, whereas a level above 10,000 is considered a low concern.
  • The average person's acrylamide intake has remained stable, but a dietary shift towards more processed foods and delivery since 2020 has created a high-risk subgroup.
  • While industry and regulators work to reduce acrylamide, consumers can mitigate risk by aiming for a golden-yellow color when cooking starchy foods and diversifying their diet beyond processed snacks.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of a good appetite must be in want of a French fry. Or a potato chip. Or some other crispy, golden, salt-dusted carbohydrate.

These foods are more than sustenance; they are cultural touchstones, comfort incarnate, the edible equivalent of a perfectly executed pop song. They are the reliable supporting actor in our culinary lives, the satisfying crunch at the end of a long day, the shared snack that seals a friendship.

There is a certain magic in the transformation of a humble potato into a crisp confection. It is a process of heat and chemistry, a carefully calibrated dance of starch and oil that yields a universally beloved result. But within that delicious, golden-brown alchemy lies a chemical secret, a compound that is not added but created, and one that has food scientists and public health officials paying very close attention. The compound is called acrylamide, and it has quietly become one of the most complex challenges in modern food safety.

Acrylamide is not a pesticide, nor is it a synthetic additive with a name full of unpronounceable consonants. You will not find it on an ingredient list. Instead, it is a natural byproduct of the Maillard reaction, the very same chemical process that gives bread its crust, coffee its aroma, and roasted vegetables their irresistible flavor.

It forms when sugars and an amino acid called asparagine, both naturally present in many plant-based foods, are heated to temperatures above 250 degrees Fahrenheit. The hotter the temperature and the longer the cooking time, the more acrylamide is formed. This means the darkest, crispiest fries and the most well-done chips often contain the highest levels.

For years, acrylamide has been a subject of global health concern owing to its potential effects on human health. Classified as "probably carcinogenic to humans" based on studies in laboratory animals, its presence in our food supply raises unavoidable questions. How much are we eating, and what, exactly, is the risk? The answers are far from simple, but a groundbreaking new study is providing some of the clearest, and most unsettling, insights to date.

A comprehensive new study published in the journal Food Additives & Contaminants. Part A, Chemistry, analysis, control, exposure & risk assessment provides a startlingly detailed snapshot of our evolving dietary habits and their hidden consequences. Researchers in Korea embarked on an ambitious project to understand the dietary exposure to acrylamide among adolescents aged 12 to 18, a demographic known for its preference for precisely the kinds of processed foods where acrylamide is most prevalent.

Using seven years of data from the highly regarded Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, spanning from 2017 to 2023, the scientists created a probabilistic risk assessment. This was not just about finding acrylamide in food; it was about modeling how much of it young people were actually consuming and what that meant for their long-term health. The timeframe of the study is particularly crucial, as it captures dietary patterns both before and after the global COVID-19 pandemic, an event that profoundly reshaped how, when, and what we eat.

The findings are a tale of two distinct groups. For the "average" teenager, the mean estimated daily intake of acrylamide was 0.066 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day. Reassuringly, this figure remained relatively stable across the entire seven-year period.

The average adolescent diet, it seems, did not become significantly riskier in the post-pandemic era. But averages, as any statistician will tell you, can be deceiving. They often conceal the extremes, and in the world of public health, the extremes are where the real story often lies.

When the researchers looked at the highest consumers, the story changed dramatically. They focused on the 95th percentile, a statistical term for the small group of individuals whose consumption habits place them at the very top of the spectrum. These are the super-snackers, the teens whose diets lean most heavily on fries, chips, and other processed delights. Within this group, the estimated daily intake shot up to 0.429 micrograms per kilogram of body weight, a figure nearly six and a half times higher than the average.

Here is the most critical finding: unlike the stable average, the intake for this high-consumption group actually crept upwards in the wake of the pandemic. From 2017 to 2019, the pre-pandemic period, the 95th percentile intake was 0.423 micrograms. In the post-pandemic period of 2020 to 2023, it rose to 0.437.

While that may seem like a small numerical increase, it represents a significant and concerning trend. The pandemic, with its lockdowns, delivery-app dinners, and comfort-seeking behavior, appears to have pushed the highest-risk group into even riskier territory.

The central question, of course, is what do these numbers mean for health? To answer this, scientists use a tool called the Margin of Exposure, or MOE. The MOE is a ratio used to characterize the risk posed by a substance in food.

It compares the level at which a harmful effect is observed in animal studies (the benchmark dose) to the estimated human intake. A higher MOE is better; it means there is a large buffer between what we consume and what might cause harm. Generally, regulators look for an MOE of 10,000 or greater to conclude a substance is of low concern for public health.

The Korean study calculated the MOE for acrylamide-induced carcinogenicity. For the average adolescent consuming a mean amount of acrylamide, the MOE was 2,580. This number, while significantly lower than the ideal 10,000, is not typically considered an immediate alarm bell. It is a signal for monitoring and mitigation, but not panic.

For the 95th percentile group, the super-snackers, the picture is far more sobering. Their Margin of Exposure plummeted to just 396. This figure is low enough to be considered a matter of "relatively greater concern" by the study's authors and by public health bodies worldwide.

Sources and methodology

Reported from primary records. Open any source to verify a claim.

All sources Foodie Pundit reports from

More from the Foodie Pundit Newsroom

Permalink