"Ours is the first report of a positive association between dietary acrylamide intake and renal cell [kidney] cancer,"said study author Janneke Hogervorst, a researcher at Maastricht University in the Netherlands.
The report is published in the May issue of theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Studies of the chemical have been ongoing since 1994, when the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified the chemical as a probable human carcinogen. Experts thought the main exposure was environmental, through cigarette smoke and, to a lesser extent, cosmetics.
But in 2002, Swedish scientists reported the presence of the chemical in carbohydrate-rich foods produced at high temperatures, including French fries and potato chips.
Studies of the chemical's link to various cancers have yielded mixed results.
