It’s tradition. Besides apple pie, there’s nothing more American. We come to expect them. In fact, it’s almost impossible for some people to think about their favorite sandwich or burger without simultaneously seeing a heaping stack of fries or a bright yellow bag of chips.
Well….time for a nation to find a new favorite side dish. Besides the hydrogenated fats, cholesterol, extreme levels of sodium and empty calories, there’s another ugly guest at the party. Subjecting potatoes to the extreme temperatures required to produce these crispy bits of greasy starch actually alters the molecular structure in such a way to make ingestion of the finished product downright dangerous. One of the main byproducts of this process is the chemical acrylamide.
Last month the Canadian federal health authority recommended that acrylamide be added to the national toxic substance list. What do we know? Acrylamide has been shown as a potent carcinogen in lab mice. A Polish health study showed extremely elevated levels of blood toxins due to a diet including the equivalent of one small bag of chips per day. The elevated acrylamide levels all but killed the body’s ability to eliminate free radicals from the blood. Additionally there was a substantial increase in arterial plaque due to elevated numbers or acrylamide-hemoglobin adducts.
Time to find a new favorite side.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment