Acrylamide is a probable human carcinogen that causes cancer at multiple sites in animal models. However, whether dietary acrylamide intake increases the risk of colorectal cancer in humans is unclear. We examined the association between dietary acrylamide intake and colorectal cancer incidence in the Cohort of Swedish Men, a population-based prospective cohort of 45,306 men who completed a food-frequency questionnaire at enrolment in 1997. During a mean follow-up of 9.3 years, we ascertained 676 incident colorectal cancer cases. Compared with the lowest quartile of acrylamide intake (<29.6 microg/d), the multivariate rate ratios for the highest quartile (> or =41.7 microg/d) were 0.95 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74-1.20) for colorectal cancer, 0.97 (95% CI 0.71-1.31) for colon cancer and 0.91 (95% CI 0.62-1.34) for rectal cancer. In conclusion, this study provides no evidence that dietary acrylamide in amounts typically consumed by Swedish men is associated with risk of colorectal cancer.