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[CITATION] In situ determination of elastic constants in rock, using a hammer seismograph KAKE MAGNUSSON - Forhandlingar/Geologiska foreningen (Sweden). -
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Is fried-foods study a good enough reason to bag those chips?
It was widely reported recently that Swedish researchers had discovered that some highly starchy cooked foods, including potato chips, French fries, biscuits and bread, contained a chemical called acrylamide — a probable cause of human cancer.
What does this study mean to the consumer?
Q: Are they saying not to eat bread or French fries?
A: No. In fact, lead researcher Lief Busk, along with Swedish, British and World Health Organization officials, urged consumers not to make any dietary changes based on this preliminary report. "It's not more dangerous to eat these foods today than it was a year before," Busk said. "There is no reason to be alarmed or to drastically change your eating habits."
Q:So why are news organizations reporting this?
A: Because it's interesting preliminary science about food safety — and the Swedes thought it significant enough to release the information now, before it's been published. Before anybody acts on the thought that these foods are dangerous, the science will have to be peer-reviewed, replicated, explained, teased out and debated.
Q: How do acrylamides get into the food?
A: Busk says that acrylamide appears to form in carbohydrate-rich foods during cooking. The higher the temperature and the longer a food cooks, the higher the levels of acrylamide. Fried foods had the highest levels, soft breads had the lowest. Low levels were found in pizza, pancakes, waffles, fried-fish fingers, meatballs, vegetarian schnitzel and cauliflower gratin. Levels were very low in meat, poultry and fish, even when fried.
Q:What if it turns out they're right, that fried starchy foods do have this cancer-causing chemical in them?
A: Experts will probably warn you not to eat much of them.
Q:Why is this coming to light now?
A: Science is getting better at measuring all kinds of chemicals in food and water. As Busk notes, this stuff has been there for thousands of years, we just couldn't measure it before. By getting this scientific information, researchers hope to figure out ways to reduce acrylamide.
It's not new that harmful substances, even carcinogens, are in food — think of nitrates in hot dogs and trace mercury in tuna. Minute traces of bad things are found throughout the water and food supply. In most foods we eat, the benefits of the nutrients far outweigh the infinitesimal risks from chemical exposure.
Q: Are you saying not to take preliminary scientific information out of context — and are you reminding me that it's far more important to eat a wide variety of foods and not think any of them is magically beneficial or inherently malevolent?
