California Sues Potatoe Chip Makers

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http://www.mercola.com/2005/sep/13/california_sues_potatoe_chip_makers.htm

 

California Sues Potatoe Chip Makers

 

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has filed a lawsuit intendedto force makers of potato chips and French fries to warn consumersabout a potential cancer-causing substance in their products.

 

Acrylamide

 

The chemical in question is acrylamide, which is created when starchyfoods are cooked at high heat. The lawsuit states that producers ofFrench fries and potato chips are in violation of a 1986 law requiringCalifornia companies to warn consumers about known carcinogens.

 

"Can Cause Cancer"

 

In a March press release, the FDA stated that acrylamide "can causecancer in laboratory animals at high doses, although it is not clearwhether it causes cancer in humans at the much lower levels found infood."

 

Acrylamide is also used for sewage treatment and other industrialpurposes.

 

CNN August 27, 2005

 

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

 

Using high temperatures to cook foods can contribute to the formationof many carcinogenic substances. Acrylamide is produced in starches;heterocyclic amines can be formed in meats.

 

For this and other reasons, French fries and potato chips are two ofthe worst foods you can eat.

 

* They are loaded with acrylamide * They contain trans fats * Because of the oils in which they are cooked, they produce largeamounts of damaging free radicals in the body

 

These problems are typical of highly processed foods in general.Ideally, you should consume foods that are minimally processed. Overhalf of the foods you eat should be uncooked and eaten in the rawstate. It may take you awhile to get to that point, but in themeantime, you can start by avoiding the foods which simply have noredeeming qualities whatsoever, such as doughnuts, all sodas, Frenchfries, and potato chips.

 

I first warned of this acrylamide danger in April of 2002. I amcertain that there are other currently unrecognized toxins that arecreated in foods that are heated at high temperatures that are farworse than acrylamide.

 

Oils are very fragile and highly perishable foods and are easilydamaged when they are heated. Damage done by frying starts at about320 degrees Fahrenheit and goes up exponentially as the temperaturerises. The nature of chemical reactions is that for every 10-degreerise in temperature, the rate of chemical reactions (with oxygen,light and metals) at least doubles, and may even triple or quadruple.

 

Most people believe that frying creates trans fats. That is not themajor problem; although some are created, they are relatively minor.There are FAR more toxic chemicals produced by frying than trans fats.

 

Frying destroys the antioxidants in oils and as such oxidizes the oilsand causes cross-linking, cyclization, double-bond shifts,fragmentation and polymerization of oils that cause far more damagethan trans fats.

 

The issue is to eat as much raw food and low temperature cooked foodas possible.

 

So it is best to not cook your food if at all possible. For thosetimes when you must heat your food you will certainly not want to useyour microwave but consider the rapid cooking and inexpensive oventhat our readers are raving about.

 

 

 

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