"Cancer Risk from French Fries"
In the latest study on dietary patterns and breast-cancer risk among women,
those eating healthier had only a quarter of the odds of breast cancer,
whereas less healthy eating was associated with
up to nearly 8 times the odds of breast cancer.
Included in the unhealthy pattern were deep-fried foods,
which have previously been linked to breast cancer,
as well as pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, oral and throat cancers,
esophageal cancer, and cancer of the voice box.
No deep fried foods?!
What's a southern belle to do?
Well, instead of deep-frying, how about the traditional Southern diet
characterized by high intakes of cooked greens, beans, legumes,
cabbage, sweet potatoes, and cornbread,
which may reduce the risk of invasive breast cancer significantly.
What about the consumption of deep-fried foods
and risk of prostate cancer?
We didn't know, until now.
They found that eating French fries, fried chicken,
fried fish, and doughnuts was associated with
about a third greater odds of prostate cancer,
and after stratifying for tumor aggressiveness,
found even slightly stronger associations with more aggressive disease,
suggesting that regular intake of deep-fried foods
may contribute to progression of prostate cancer as well.
What's in fried foods that's so bad for us?
Just heating oils that hot can generate potentially carcinogenic compounds,
and then known carcinogens such as heterocyclic amines
and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons form
when the muscles of chickens and fish are cooked at that temperature.
And deep-fried plants can form different chemicals like acrylamide.
I did a video about acrylamide back in 2008,
suggesting it's a probable human carcinogen.
Since then a study suggested pregnant women may want to cut back
on French fries to protect the growth of their baby's body and brain.
And based on a study feeding people a little bag of potato chips
every day for a month, it now seems acrylamide
may cause inflammation as well,
which may explain its purported role in cancer progression.
Acrylamide intake has been associated in some studies
with endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer, lung cancer,
tied also to kidney cancer, and esophageal cancer.
But how much cancer risk are we talking about?
We didn't know...until now.
An excess lifetime cancer risk assessment for French fries.
They picked on French fries because they comprise by far
the greatest percentage contribution of acrylamide
to the diets of children.
They estimated that at most, 1 or 2 boys and girls out of every ten thousand
would develop cancer eating French fries
that they would otherwise NOT have gotten if they hadn't eaten French fries.
So it's not as bad as eating something like fried fish or fried chicken,
but how much is that saying,
particularly for female hormonal cancers such as breast cancer?
Now, the level of cancer risk associated with French fries
in both boys and girls depends for how long and how hot they're fried at.
In Europe, the food industry swore
that they'd self-regulate and control fry times
to decrease acrylamide levels, but...
they apparently didn't.
No subsequent change in acrylamide levels in French fries.
Researchers continue to urge that
the cooking temperature should be as low as possible
and the cooking time should be as short as possible
while still maintaining a tasty quality.
Wouldn't want to reduce cancer risk too much—
might not taste as good!
Blanching the potatoes first reduces acrylamide formation,
but potato chip companies complain
that not only will it muck with the flavor,
but reduce the nutritional properties,
by leaching away some of the vitamin C.
But if we're relying on potato chips to get our Vitamin C,
acrylamide is probably the least of our worries.