Deep fried Acrylamide
Acrylamide
Another chemical has been pointed out by the media. Acrylamide is not exactly the phrase on everyone's lips, but it is nothing new; it's something the EPA set water regulations for in 1974.
FYI, it's an organic white, odorless, flake-like crystal used as a coagulant in water treatment, in making chemicals and dyes, sizing paper and textiles and in ore processing. For the short term, exposure causes damage to the nervous system, weakness and lack of leg coordination; long term, it causes damage to the nervous system, paralysis; cancer.
It's something to learn about.
As far as I know, it's not something adds like a spice or even as a preservative. But if you fry food at high temperatures, it is created in the process.
It's time to eating it and stop feeding it to your kids.
Wake up America. Another reason not to eat fried foods.
I'm not surprised that the chemical acrylamide found in fries, cakes and snacks. I don't think this would be something to sue about, but it is something to know about and to avoid.
I've had my experience with foods that hurt. For the past two years my health has not been good. I attributed it to my exposures to chemicals and my severe allergy to sulfur, After finding no help through modern medicine except more antibiotics, steroids to reduce inflammation, nose sprays, eye drops and more antibiotics, I finally sought help.
It had to be something I was exposed to everyday that was causing all my fatigue, sinus problems, watery eyes, depression.
The culprit seems to have been foods allergies. I got off sugar, processed foods, frozen foods, and yes, by coincidence, french fries. This really started making me aware of what chemicals are in our food. I can absolutely say after several months of watching what I eat, that food can make you sick. Bad food choices can be poison to our bodies.
Fortunately good food choices can make us feel better.
So now, if God didn't make it, I don't eat it, and my health is fantastic. I have energy, no bags under my eyes, no headaches, no sinus problems, I take NO medicine, my vision is no longer blurred.
I'm not trying to set myself up as the poster child for organic eating. I've cheated--I recently had a chocolate chip cookie--even if it didn't stay down very long. It's just that fast food french fries show high levels of acrylamide--from 39 to 72 micrograms. Since it forms in fries during high-temperature frying, realistically, it just means that we can eat our potatoes cooked another way. Besides, who needs all those starchy carbs anyway?
So let's say no to acrylamide. We don't need fries--and other processed fried or baked goods containing acrylamide-- to survive. They aren't so evil they need to be illegal. But we will probably live a little longer and feel a little better without them.
Currently, I am the President of the consulting firm, Brockovich Research & Consulting, where I am involved in numerous major environmental cases 
Comments
Interesting! I have had lots of allergies. Time to stop eating fried foods!
Posted by: Rosemary Simo | May 11, 2008 11:44 PM
'Tis another wise entry. The Western lifestyle is saturated (no pun) in chemicals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The feverish pace has reduced nature's meals to microwavable or fried junk.
I, for one, know better than succumb to the new age of quick meals, but I have. My excuse, and I hate to use this as an easy out, is that I'm a bachelor that lives alone. I have never been a chef by any means and I'm known to have burnt many a pasta dish due to being preoccupied with other tasks. That being said, I find natural ingredients to be increasing in cost and my budget is far less than extravagant. However, if I were to weigh the scales between natural foods and fast food... In reality, I don't have a worthy excuse.
As you mentioned about feeling better all around, it only pushes ahead the reasons to eat more healthy. I regretfully recall how junk meals didn't sit right and I won't mention the aftermath.
I read an article somewhere how a young guy was addicted to video games and only ate fast food, with potato chips being the regular side dish of a main course of McDonalds. Sadly, this young fellow died after liver problems. Many say it might have been diet deficiencies and I concur, but I dare say it was from chemical induced breakdown of his internal organs. Now, I'm not sure if acrylamide is also a byproduct of bagged potato chips. Either or, fast food kills. Oh yes, I also viewed 'Supersize Me' and I was shocked in a sensible way.
Just by typing out my post, I feel I have to rethink and calculate just how much junk I regularly intake. I appreciate the kick in the pants and look forward to looking into process food detox. :)
Posted by: Sammy | May 16, 2008 8:22 AM
Dear Erin,
Thanks for your posting on Acrylamide - the study which really woke the media up to the problem was done on workers in Sweden with results released ahead of paper filed in 2002 that measured occupational exposure to this chemical and found quite by accident the chemical in foodstuffs (usually starchy) that were baked or fried but not boiled. Some apparently can be created through microwaving.(Tareke E, Rydberg P. et al. (2002). "Analysis of acrylamide, a carcinogen formed in heated foodstuffs". J. Agric. Food. Chem. 50 (17): 4998-5006. doi:10.1021/jf020302f. PMID 12166997. Apparently it is a by-product of the Maillard (browning) reaction between amino acids (principally asparagine) and reducing sugars.
Studies into the effects of acrylamide on the human body are hampered through its ubiquity in diets. One would have to look for certain populations that didn't use these methods of cooking and then one couldn't necessarily rule out other factors.
One thing is certain, a diet high in fried and baked goods usually isn't a healthy one to start off with. Acrylamide has been around ever since we cooked over fire so it isn't going to go away. So the message is simple IMHO; a little in moderation isn't going to kill you but a lot may just do. Keep on eating your steamed and boiled veggies!
Going back to the original study - apparently it was conducted to assess workers who may have been exposed to Acrylamide when working on a rail tunnel where sealant containing the compound had been used to fill cracks back in 1997 - locals has reported cattle dyeing and it was suspected that acrylamide may have had a part to play in this. Ground-water and surface water was contaminated and produce from the regions farms were dumped. Lawsuits, and resignations followed. No deaths of people happened at the time, but given the chronic toxicity of acrylamide there may be longer-term issues arising. (http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/94/12/876)
As an aside acrylamide is used to make the gels in eletrophoresis analyses in the lab as part of DNA fingerprinting - the acrylamide forms polymers which make up the matrix used to separate the base pairs when a current is applied. It is also used in water treatment as a flocking agent.
Posted by: Ian Homer | May 25, 2008 1:37 PM
Dear Erin,
Thanks for your posting on Acrylamide - the study which really woke the media up to the problem was done on workers in Sweden with results released ahead of apaper filed in 2002 that measured occupational exposure to this chemical and found quite by accident the compound was in foodstuffs (usually starchy) that were baked or fried but not boiled. Some apparently can be created through microwaving.(Tareke E, Rydberg P. et al. (2002). "Analysis of acrylamide, a carcinogen formed in heated foodstuffs". J. Agric. Food. Chem. 50 (17): 4998-5006. doi:10.1021/jf020302f. PMID 12166997. Apparently it is a by-product of the Maillard (browning) reaction between amino acids (principally asparagine) and reducing sugars.
Studies into the effects of acrylamide on the human body are hampered through its ubiquity in diets. One would have to look for certain populations that didn't use these methods of cooking and then one couldn't necessarily rule out other factors.
One thing is certain, a diet high in fried and baked goods usually isn't a healthy one to start off with. Acrylamide has been around ever since we cooked over fire so it isn't going to go away. So the message is simple IMHO; a little in moderation isn't going to kill you but a lot may just do. Keep on eating your steamed and boiled veggies!
Going back to the original study - apparently it was conducted to assess workers who may have been exposed to Acrylamide when working on a rail tunnel where sealant containing the compound had been used to fill cracks back in 1997 - locals has reported cattle dyeing and it was suspected that acrylamide may have had a part to play in this. Ground-water and surface water was contaminated and produce from the regions farms were dumped. Lawsuits, and resignations followed. No deaths of people happened at the time, but given the chronic toxicity of acrylamide there may be longer-term issues arising. (http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/94/12/876)
As an aside acrylamide is used to make the gels in eletrophoresis analyses in the lab as part of DNA fingerprinting - the acrylamide forms polymers which make up the matrix used to separate the base pairs when a current is applied. It is also used in water treatment as a flocking agent.
Posted by: Ian Homer | May 25, 2008 1:39 PM
Just to clarify - pun not intended - the water treatment industry uses high molecular weight polyacrylamide polymers as flocculating agents, not acrylamide itself, though the monomer can be present in small quantities, hence the tight reglulation on its use.
Posted by: Ian Homer | May 25, 2008 1:51 PM
Wow! That was a lot of information to take in! One of my favorite ladies to watch on the Tele is Jillian Mckeath on BBC America. She takes the obese folks and gives them the eye opening speach about the foods they eat.
I had no Idea that frying foods at high tempetures could cause a chemical reaction, however, I do know its not the lowest in fats. I own a Tacoria in Tampa Florida and we do deep fry our tacos. Its very popular (although I don't eat fried food very often even though I own a restaurant). I think if we look closely at everything in todays lifestyle is it all really neccessary or are we just to lazy to do it the natural way?
Posted by: Kimberly Godin | May 26, 2008 5:43 AM