Healthy Home Cooking
We know that cooking food is a part of our daily lives. It can make food taste better; it ensures that the food is safe to eat and it also prevents spoilage. But it’s worthy to note that certain cooking methods can actually spoil the healthy foods that you eat.
Avoid the following cooking method:
Deep frying/ baking/ grilling/ broiling: When starchy foods are cooked at high temperatures, a compound called acrylamide is formed. This can happen during frying, high temperature cooking.
Fried starchy foods are especially high in acrylamide. This includes fried potato products, like French fries and potato chips. Besides, high temperature cooking, cooked for a long duration of time, like grilling, frying, smoking or charring causes toxic byproducts. All of this leads to the production of compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic amines, which studies have shown, cause cancer in animals.
Higher cooking temperatures can create chemical reactions among amino acids, creatines and sugars reactions that may produce dangerous carcinogens and mutagens (compounds that can damage our DNA). Such as:
● Heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
● Advanced glycation end products
● Acrylamide
According to bbc.com, to avoid high doses of acrylamides, the FSA recommends aiming for a golden color when cooking and avoiding refrigerating potatoes if they are going to be cooked at high temperatures (chilling potatoes frees up sugars, which combine with amino acids to form acrylamide during cooking). In general, the idea is to avoid overcooking these ingredients, to prevent the creation of acrylamide.
You would rather opt for low temperature, slow cooking. This would ensure that your exposure to the toxins are reduced. Example- low temperature slow baking, roasting, poaching, stewing.
References:
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/acrylamide.html
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200625-the-hidden-risks-of-cooking-your-food
Tags: Healthy home cooking, cooking method, deep frying/ baking/ grilling/ broiling, acrylamide, high temperature cooking, Fried starchy foods, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic amines, dangerous carcinogens and mutagens, advanced glycation end products, acrylamide, low temperature slow baking, roasting, poaching, stewing.
