Chemical in fries prompts FDA advice

Crispy french fries and crunchy potato chips were never health foods, what with all the calories, fat and salt. But consumers just got a reminder that there's one more thing to worry about when they indulge in such foods: a chemical called acrylamide that might cause cancer.

In a consumer update posted to its website, the FDA details the reasons to consider cutting back on acrylamide, a chemical that forms naturally in plant-based foods when they are cooked at high temperatures for a long time. In other words, it's usually found in fried foods, like french fries. It's produced from a chemical reaction from the sugars and an amino acid called asparagine, which is found in many grains and vegetables. (And potatoes have a particularly high amount of it, further exacerbating the french fry problem.)

Animal studies have shown that high levels of acrylamide are linked to an increased risk of cancer, although long-term studies have not yet been done in humans. Both the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization call the levels of acrylamide in foods a “major concern,” and call for more research.
Scientists first found acrylamide in food in 2002, and according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association, it's found in about 40% of the calories consumed in a standard American diet. Frying, roasting or baking tends to produce acrylamide, but boiling or steaming foods typically do not.

Here’s a short list of some of the foods acrylamide is often found in:

• potatoes (especially roasted or fried potatoes)
• cereals
• coffee
• crackers
• breads (especially toasted bread)
• dried fruits

What's a person to do? Must we all go raw if we want to stay healthy?
In fact, it does seem that once we venture away from uncooked or lightly steamed foods, we're headed for trouble. But of course, we're not all going to give up toast and stir fries and cappuccino tomorrow. More realistically, you can at least minimize acrylamide exposure.

French fries:  golden yellow  -            brown

One key is to limit potato intake, as the potato seems to have a particular affinity for acrylamide. The highest levels of the nasty chemical were found in potato chips and fries. Boiling or steaming potatoes is your best bet, or at the least, baking the whole potato. The FDA says that refrigeration actually increases the acrylamide levels in potatoes. The Agency recommends storing them in a vegetable drawer, slicing them, and then soaking them for 15 minutes in cold water before cooking. Apparently, the soaking decreases the acrylamide levels.

Toast:         light brown          -             dark brown

Also, don’t eat burnt toast. Same concept here: The dark brown or black areas on a piece of toast are more likely to contain acrylamide. Toast your bread to a light brown color instead.

As for other food items, it's better to sauté at low heats for short periods of time rather than stir fry on high. It's better to steam grains, if you choose to eat them, rather than stir-fry them before cooking. If you love the crunchy, crispy parts of your roasted vegetables, you might need to change your taste preferences as the acrylamides concentrate where the crunch is.

There isn't much you can do about coffee, since the beans get roasted before they reach your percolator, says the FDA. On the other hand, you might want to choose light roasts rather than dark, or better yet, switch to green tea (and not kukicha or genmaicha, which contain roasted twigs and roasted barley, respectively).

Bottom line: when you think about it, the rules don't really change with the acrylamide warning. Avoiding fried foods to the extent possible has long been a tenet of healthy eating habits, as has been lightly steaming instead of cooking vegetables to death in order to retain mineral content.









Sources: http://www.today.com/health/, http://www.usatoday.com/, http://www.myhealthwire.com/news/, http://www.forbes.com/