It is possible to reduce acrylamide levels by not overcooking meals. Consumers should strive for a golden yellow color or lighter when frying (including air frying), baking, toasting, or roasting food.
In some foods, acrylamide is a chemical that can develop during high-temperature cooking methods like frying, roasting, and baking. Acrylamide does not originate from your food packaging or the environment; it forms in food from naturally occurring sugars and amino acids.
The process of cooking at a high temperature, such as frying, roasting, or baking, is more likely to produce acrylamide. Acrylamide is not normally produced during boiling or steaming.
The majority of acrylamide is found in plant-based meals like coffee, grain products, and items manufactured from potatoes. In dairy, meat, and fish products, acrylamide either does not occur or forms in very small amounts.
It’s important to know the ways how you can prevent acrylamide using your air fryer because health is wealth, continue reading to know more!
What is acrylamide?
Acrylamide Process Contaminants in Food Acrylamide is a substance that forms in plant-based foods as a result of a natural chemical reaction between sugars and asparagine, an amino acid.
Acrylamide is produced during high-temperature cooking processes like frying, roasting, and baking.
High levels of acrylamide caused cancer in laboratory animals in research studies, but the levels of acrylamide used in these studies were much higher than those found in human food.
Acrylamide Avoidance
As public awareness of this issue grows, more farmers and food manufacturers are working to reduce the amount of this chemical in their products. There are, however, things you can do at home to reduce your Acrylamide intake. These are some examples:
- Only fry potatoes at 175 degrees Celsius.
- Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius.
- Before frying vegetables, soak them in cold water.
- Bread should only be lightly toasted.
- Coffee’s content cannot be reduced, so if you are concerned about Acrylamide, consider giving up coffee entirely.
Many of us had never heard of acrylamide, but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous. You can take action as more people work to alleviate the problem.
Is it true that Air fryers cause cancer?
There are a few ways through which air frying may damage the nutritional value of food and increase your chance of developing cancer.
A relatively new gadget called an air fryer was created as a substitute for traditional deep-frying.
People enjoy using this because it uses very less oil, which eliminates the need to reheat oil and this discourages the production of acrylamide, which is a class of chemicals known as a group 2A carcinogen.
On the other hand, cooking starchy foods at high temperature or for longer periods also increase the production of acrylamide.
Despite any potential benefits, it’s crucial to remember that the sort of food you eat may, in many cases, be more significant than the preparation method.
Therefore, air fryers itself does not cause cancer. The food and the way you cook your food can be the possible reason to cause cancer.
Do Air fryers reduce acrylamide?
Your food’s acrylamide content may be reduced if you air fry it rather than deep fry it. A previous study indicated that, when compared to conventional deep-frying, air-frying reduced acrylamide production by as much as 90%.
Your food that has been deep fried has more fat and calories as well as potentially harmful substances like acrylamide.
When meals with a high carbohydrate content are cooked at high heat, such as when frying, the chemical acrylamide is created. It’s crucial to remember that other dangerous substances could still be created during the air-frying process.
Other potentially hazardous substances produced by high-heat cooking, such as aldehydes, heterocyclic amines, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, may raise the risk of cancer. When compared to deep-frying, using an air fryer can lower dietary acrylamide, a substance linked to cancer.
Does an Air fryer cause radiation?
Air fryers don’t utilize electromotive radiation; other ovens do. Even EMFs don’t present a threat to health. In air fryers, heat is transferred through a device or by radiating heat to cook the food. This radiation, which is heated, will not damage you or your food.
Kitchen appliance safety has increased as technology has advanced. You undoubtedly want to know if air fryers emit radiation as microwave ovens do.
Radiated heat is nevertheless used by air fryers. The heat that quickly warms up and spreads around food is referred to as radiant heat. The outside of your meal soon dries out as a result of this process, producing a crispy coating.
Air fryers use radiated heat, which is not the same as radiation. Additionally, air fryers cook less quickly than deep fryers and have a smaller capacity.
Therefore when you compare an air fryer to an oven, it’s safer to use an air fryer since the heat produced here will not damage your food.
Do air fryers leach chemicals?
If you’re looking for a “healthier” choice, air frying is recommended over deep frying. The acrylamides that air-frying can still produce can be harmful to your health. Your air fryer may contain toxic chemicals that leach into the food you cook with it.
Types of toxic elements that may develop in an air fryer:
| PTFE and polymers | Many air-fryers contain toxic elements like PTFE and polymers, which can contaminate the air you breathe and seep into our food. Cookware with a PTFE coating can emit a variety of gasses, chemicals, and vapors that can be mild to severely poisonous when heated to standard cooking temperatures. |
| Teflon flu | Fluoropolymer fever, sometimes known as “Teflon flu,” can even develop after prolonged exposure. And Teflon fumes can be fatal to birds if they are exposed to them. Because PFAS are known to be toxic, build in the body, and degrade slowly, it’s imperative to try to limit your exposure to them as much as you can. |
As demand for air fryers increased, hundreds of businesses released less expensive, lower-quality models composed of hazardous materials including PTFE, plastic exteriors, and other chemical-laden materials that when utilized pose health concerns and exposure to toxicants.
The easiest approach that you can do to stay away from these toxicants given the risks outlined above is to use the best air fryer you can find. This refers to air fryers built from stainless steel and glass rather than non-stick coatings and plastic, based on what is currently on the market.
When you use an air fryer, ventilation is also crucial to consider to prevent any fumes that may be generated from the appliance from contaminating the air in your house.
How do you prevent acrylamide production?
You need to cook foods more quickly while frying, roasting, or grilling them. Boiling or heating cannot make acrylamide. If you love to cook potatoes, they should be soaked in water for 15 to 30 minutes before roasting or frying to reduce the production of acrylamide during cooking.
Plant-based foods cooked over high heat (such as those that are roasted, fried, or baked) are more likely to contain acrylamide than those cooked over low heat (such as those that are steamed or boiled).
Compared to roasting, baking, and frying potatoes, frying results in the greatest generation of acrylamide. Baking your entire potatoes results in the least amount of acrylamide generation, followed by roasting potato chunks.
Acrylamide is not created when potatoes are boiled or microwaved whole and unpeeled to create “microwaved baked potatoes.”
Reduced acrylamide generation is achieved by cooking cut potato goods, such as frozen French fries or potato slices, to a golden yellow color as opposed to a brown one. More acrylamide is typically found in brown areas.
Toasting bread to a light brown color, rather than a dark brown hue, minimizes the amount of acrylamide. Since they contain the greatest acrylamide, brown areas should be avoided.
In terms of preparing your coffee, the creation of acrylamide is not when coffee is prepared at home or in a restaurant, but rather when your coffee beans are roasted, is when acrylamide is formed in coffee. There are currently no effective methods available for lowering coffee’s production of acrylamide.
Here’s a short video to help you understand what is acrylamide:
Acrylamide levels can be decreased by baking foods at lower oven temperatures and to a golden yellow or lighter color.
The foods you consume with a high carbohydrate content should be boiled, steamed, or microwaved, according to the Food Standards Agency (FSA). This lowers the amount of acrylamide production to a level that is safe for your consumption.
How much acrylamide is safe?
The safest ingestion amounts of acrylamide are 2.6 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, according to a recent US toxicology study. For a 70 kg person, the tolerable daily intake (TDI) for carcinogenic levels is 182 micrograms.
As I previously said, there has been little scientific study on the dangers of acrylamide to human health. The EFSA concluded that they cannot recommend a tolerated daily intake (TDI) of acrylamide in food in terms of the safe amount.
This is because acrylamide is a genotoxic chemical with the potential to cause cancer. Instead, the EFSA has identified an estimated dosage range where adverse health impacts are most likely to occur.
Acrylamide levels have been estimated to be between 425 for adults and 50 for young children.
Conclusion
- When you are using high-temperature cooking techniques including frying, roasting, and baking, a chemical called acrylamide may form.
- The hazardous chemicals in your air fryer may seep into the food you cook with it.
- It has been found that acrylamide can be found in coffee, grains, and potatoes. Before roasting or frying, potato slices should be soaked in water for 15 to 30 minutes. When utilizing an air fryer, place it securely under the range hood or crack a window close by.
- Using an air fryer or oven can lead to the formation of acrylamide if you used to cook at a high temperature or if you usually cook your food for a longer time.