Impact of the roasting degree of coffee on the in vitro radical scavenging capacity and content of acrylamide

Due to the recognized toxicity of acrylamide, intensive efforts have been made to reduce the concentration of this undesired Maillard by-product in food. This work reports the results obtained from a series of experiments aimed at determining the concentration of acrylamide and the in vitro radical scavenging capacity in the same roasted and ground coffee samples, as it is well established that a significant part of the antioxidant activity in coffee is linked to the melanoidins, which are also considered as Maillard reaction products (MRPs). The radical scavenging capacity was measured using electroparamagnetic resonance (EPR). Coffee samples from the Robusta and Arabica varieties were roasted at 236 °C over different time periods to obtain very light, light, medium and dark roast. Color analyses were performed on all samples. Increasing the roasting degree led to a decrease in acrylamide concentration as well as radical scavenging capacity. The results of this work indicate that any mitigation efforts must also take into account the potential loss of desired food constituents and consequently changes to the risk/benefit characteristics of foods.