ORIGINAL PAPER Acrylamide formation in a cookie system as influenced by the oil phenol profile and degree of oxidation Gema Arribas-Lorenzo Æ Vincenzo Fogliano Æ Francisco J. Morales Received: 27 November 2008 / Revised: 21 January 2009 / Accepted: 26 January 2009 / Published online: 17 February 2009 Ó Springer-Verlag 2009 Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the olive oil phenolic compounds as well as of thermoxidised oil on the formation of acrylamide in a cookies system. Three virgin olive oils having different phenolic profile and a thermoxidised sunflower oil were selected. Cookies were baked at 190 °C for different times (8–16 min) following a basic recipe where type of oil was the variable. Additionally to acrylamide (AA), other parameters such as colour, moisture, antioxidant activity (AOA), and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) were measured. Results showed that concentration and composition of phenolic moiety of virgin olive oil significantly affect the acrylamide formation, particularly at prolonged baking time. Virgin olive oil with a higher dihydroxy/monohy- droxy ratio was more efficient in the AA mitigation and AA was reduced up to 20%. Colour and AOA were not significantly different among the three types of oils. However, AA is dramatically increased when thermoxi- dised oil is used with a parallel increase of browning and HMF. It was concluded that lipid oxidation products should be considered as an important factor in acrylamide for- mation during baking of fat-rich products. Keywords Acrylamide cookie  Olive oil  Sunflower oil  Phenolic compounds  Thermoxidation  Carbonyl compounds Introduction Acrylamide (AA) monomer which is responsible of ner- vous system damage [1], may act as a carcinogenic [2] and mutagenic compound [3]. AA has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as probably carcinogenic to humans [4]. AA is naturally formed mainly in carbohydrate rich foods during thermal treatment [5]. According to the most recent data, average human intake is estimated to be 0.4 lg/kg bw/day from 2 years of age onwards [6]. However, the intake may vary widely from 0.3 to 2 lg/kg bw/day or may reach even 5 lg/kg bw/day at the 99th percentile [6]. The main food commodities contributing to the AA exposure were French fries, potato crisps, coffee, biscuits and bread, while others food items contributed less than 10% of the total exposure [7]. All in all, the discovery of AA as new heat-induced toxicant in foodstuffs led to a public health concern and different National and International bodies aimed activities for risk evaluation. Reducing sugars and asparagine are the most important precursors in the formation of acrylamide in foods linked to the Maillard reaction (MR) through the decarboxylation of the Schiff base in a Strecker-type reaction [8, 9]. Another possible, although secondary pathway reported for acryl- amide formation is from lipid oxidation, triacylglycerols can hydrolyse to glycerol, forming acrolein from the G. Arribas-Lorenzo  F. J. Morales Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientı ´ficas, Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnologı ´a de los Alimentos y Nutricio ´n (formerly Instituto del Frı ´o), 28040 Madrid, Spain V. Fogliano Dipartimento di Scienza degli Alimenti, University of Napoli ‘‘Federico II’’, via Universita ` 100, 80055 Portici, Italy F. J. Morales (&) Instituto del Frı ´o, CSIC, Jose ´ Antonio Novais 10, 28040 Madrid, Spain e-mail: fjmorales@if.csic.es 123 Eur Food Res Technol (2009) 229:63–72 DOI 10.1007/s00217-009-1026-z