Editing Reducing sugar (section)

===Maillard reaction===
{{main|Maillard reaction}}

The carbonyl groups of reducing sugars react with the amino groups of amino acids in the [[Maillard reaction]], a complex series of reactions that occurs when cooking food.<ref>{{cite journal 
 |last=Dills |first=William L. Jr. |date=November 1993 |title=Protein fructosylation: fructose and the Maillard reaction |journal=The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition |publisher=American Society for Nutrition |volume=58 |issue=5 |pages=779S–87 |issn=0002-9165 | doi=10.1093/ajcn/58.5.779s |pmid=8213610 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Maillard reaction products (MRPs) are diverse; some are beneficial to human health, while others are toxic. However, the overall effect of the Maillard reaction is to decrease the nutritional value of food.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jiang |first1=Zhanmei |last2=Wang |first2=Lizhe |last3=Wu |first3=Wei |last4=Wang |first4=Yu |date=June 2013 |title=Biological activities and physicochemical properties of Maillard reaction products in sugar–bovine casein peptide model systems |journal=Food Chemistry |publisher=Elsevier |volume=141 |issue=4 |pages=3837–3845 |doi=10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.06.041 |pmid=23993556 |issn=0308-8146 }}</ref> One example of a toxic product of the Maillard reaction is [[acrylamide]], a [[neurotoxin]] and possible [[carcinogen]] that is formed from free [[asparagine]] and reducing sugars when cooking starchy foods at high temperatures (above 120&nbsp;°C).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pedreschi |first1=Franco
|last2=Mariotti |first2=María Salomé |last3=Granby |first3=Kit |date=August 2013 |title=Current issues in dietary acrylamide: formation, mitigation and risk assessment |journal=Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture |publisher=Society of Chemical Industry  |volume=94 |issue=1 |pages=9–20 |doi=10.1002/jsfa.6349 |pmid=23939985
|issn=0022-5142 |hdl=10533/127076 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> However, evidence from epidemiological studies suggest that dietary acrylamide is unlikely to raise the risk of people developing cancer.<ref name=acs>{{cite web |url=http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/athome/acrylamide |title=Acrylamide and Cancer Risk|date=11 February 2019 |publisher=[[American Cancer Society]] }}</ref>