Scientists have determined that crispy french fries may increase risk of developing cancer.
According to a new study submitted by the Food Standards Agency, it seems that deep fried chips can give you cancer. Everyone likes a dish full of crunch tatters once in a while. And even top chefs like Jamie Oliver and Nigella Dawson said that the dull potato can be transformed into an incredible food if you just take you time to deep fry them.
But it seems that the process itself is more dangerous to our help then the crisps themselves. By frying, roasting, searing or roasting vegetables a certain chemical compound them is released, thus increasing the product’s carcinogenicity. The compound released during the thermal process is called acrylamide.
Acrylamide is an odorless crystalline solid, highly soluble in water, ether and even chloroform. Usually, this compound has many industrial applications. For example, acrylamide can be used to synthesize another compound name polyacrylamide, which is basically used as a water thickener.
Many other industries use this compound for various reasons. Acrylamide is used in making treatments for wastewaters, if can be used in order to purify and refine ore and it is even involved in the papermaking process.
Although this compound seem to be used in various industry, there is something more to it. According to specialists, acrylamide is also the byproduct of tobacco smoke. Furthermore, representatives of the US Government have classified acrylamide as being a Group 2A Carcinogen.
It would seem that an 8 hour exposure to just 0.03 mg is enough in order to affect your health. Acrylamides have been linked to various forms of cancerous tumors, developing on the adrenal glands, thyroid and lungs. Moreover, acrylamide was also deemed to be a very dangerous neurotoxin. Tests performed on animals revealed that when exposed to acrylamide, an organism can suffer serious mutations.
As to the link between acrylamide and food, it seems that the couple has a long history. It would seem that acrylamide has been discovered in food by accident in 2002 by a couple of Swedish researchers. The chemical seems to reside inside foods filled with starch such as the common potato chips or the ever popular French fries.
The researchers have even discovered that when the food is heated up at high temperatures, the toxicity of the chemical rises exponentially. So, the more you heat or grill your food, the more you put yourself at risk.
Other papers on the subject pointed out that acrylamide has disastrous effects on the nervous system and can even lead to infertility.
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