Sure potato chips aren’t exactly a health food (though I did see sweet potato chips with 50% DV vitamin A today). But, here’s another twist on some tasty snacks – potato chips, fries and baked goods contain a substance formed during cooking that could not only be carcinogenic but may increase your risk of developing heart disease.
Scientists have known for quite some time that acrylamides, chemical compounds formed when carbohydrate-rich food is baked or fried at a high temperature, are potentially carcinogenic. The worst offender: French fries. Potato chips are next followed by canned black olives (oddly enough). Even breakfast cereals have some acrylamides in them.
For years the World Health Organization and other health groups have discussed the potential health risks associated with acrylamides. Now, however, there’s a new one and it is already the #1 cause of death in men and women in the U.S. – heart disease. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that subjects who ingested fairly significant quantities of potato chips for 4 weeks had adverse changes in various cardiovascular risk factors including oxidized LDL and inflammatory markers. Longer term studies examining food intake and cardiovascular disease are likely to get underway in coming years.
So what can you do to avoid acrylamides? Minimize your consumption of foods like potato chips, french fries and those burnt pie crusts or cookies. Oh, and quit smoking – yes, smoking is a major source of acrylamide exposure.
As a kid I loved the burnt pie crust, the darker parts of the crust on bread, and of course, potato chips. Over the years I learned that those certainly weren’t the best foods for me so I’ve cut them down dramatically. Luckily, I’ve cut down my acrylamide exposure as well.