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Wellness Wednesday
From the March 2011 issue of Health magazine:
A new study published in the British Journal of Cancer suggests that a chemical called acrylamide, which is formed during high-temperature cooking - and found in fries and potato chips - may boost the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women. This builds on previous research suggesting it's role as a carcinogen. Julie A. Smith, MD, director of the Breast Cancer Screening and Prevention Program at the New York University Cancer Institute, says the study is intriguing, but it doesn't prove a definite link between eating fries and getting cancer. It's more important to focus on sticking to natural, unprocessed foods overall, she says, and watching your weight helps fend off the disease, too: "Women should aim to keep their body fat under 25 percent to reduce the risk of storing cancer-causing agents like acrylamide."
Seems to me avoiding French fries and potato chips would serve two purposes - keeping acrylamide our of your body and keeping your body fat content down. A win-win proposition.
2 comments:
I pretty much can't keep chips in the house because a bag is generally eaten in leu of a meal (not necessarily by me).
Interesting statement, but I wonder if the acrylamide is being produced with certain types of oils that are readily used, but not healthy when cooked with at high temps, as both items listed are fried, or if has to do with the starch of the potato and the the oil combining to make this chemical.
Wait, do blue corn chips fall into this category, because that's what I can't keep in the house.
Shona,
Ah, chips...yes, very had to resist.:) I also try to keep chips out of the house, except when my son is home from college.
Good question about cooking oil at high temps. This is one reason I have toyed with trying a raw diet. It often seems that the alchemy of cooking results in undesirable results. But going raw seems very difficult, to me at least. Don't know about the blue corn chips, but usually all things in moderation is the best defense.
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