Acrylamide. Cancer causing chemical *created* by frying or baking high starch foods.
Shane July 24th, 2007
Well, this story will go right on by everyone who reads it. This story is perfect for this site, and is one of the best examples of why I started this blog.
Tell people smoking kills people, everyone cheers.
Tell people we need to get out Iraq, everyone cheers.
Tell people the world is warming up, and calamities are near. Everyone cheers. Why?
For all of those problems, there is a solution. There is hope.
For stories like Peak Oil, or this story about Acylamide, there is little hope. I’ve found that when you get to really, really depressing information, getting people to listen is like trying to balance a drop of water on a bubble of oil. (god my analogies suck.)
Anyway, frying or baking high starch foods creates a cancer causing chemical. The first study was done in 2002, more studies have been done, and they had the same results.
Frying or baking potatoes, breads, other starchy foods will kill you. This chemical is present *whenever ANY food is baked or fried* but the levels in non starchy foods are very low. Boiled or raw foods do not have them.
Cooking food creates a chemical that kills us.
French Fries will kill you. (I still eat them, I suck.)
Just watch, no one will reply to this, it’s like being a homeless person, people just ignore you. 
- Environment
- Comments(8)
The thing is with subjects like acrylamide, you are immediately and personally responsible for making a decision about your own health, and many people these days seem to be scared of accepting personal responsibility for their own actions. It’s often more comforting and less confronting to trust all is ok if the advertising says it’s fine and hey, you like the taste. Then, if disease hits you later, it’s “somebody else’s fault”. (Remember the two obese girls who tried to sue McDonald’s a few years ago for somehow “making” them fat?)
There is little an individual can do to immediately halt global warming, rectify the Iraq mess, or stop others’ smoking habit. These sorts of things require group action, everyone doing their little bit, and some people can feel comfortably distanced from the problem while they are “going along with the crowd” (e.g. earth-conscious folks wearing their organic-fibre clothing (flown in from the third world) and sipping their spring water (in a plastic bottle flown in from overseas) while taking their old newspapers away for recycling in their gas-guzzling SUV).
Something like acrylamide requires each individual to become aware of the subject, learn and at least gain a general understanding of it, and then make a decision - either continue eating and accept likely consequences uncomplainingly, or resolve to take personal action by not putting things like french fries in their mouth.
I agree with you that many are going to glaze over or shy away from trying to understand because it might seem too complex a subject for them to spend time on, or too frightening, or one that confronts them with responsibility for their actions. I’m reminded of words from an old Crowded House song: “in the paper today, tales of war and of waste - but you turn right over to the tv page.” People sometimes deal with problems by avoiding them and hoping they go away.
However, articles like the one you are commenting on are important as they raise awareness for those who are prepared to be inquisitive and responsible for their actions. Even if the health of just one person is helped by it, then the article has been a success, and of immense value to that person.
Um. No. That is not why many people ‘glaze over’ or whatever. The reason stuff like this gets the big “BAH” from most people is because EVERYTHING CAUSES CANCER these days. If you look back on the last several years, there are a ridiculous amount of foods that they have managed to link to cancer. It doesn’t matter what you eat… I mean, didn’t they push tomatoes for prostate cancer prevention and then later try to link them to being a cancer causung agent?? I can’t speak for everyone else… but I know in my own personal experience that it’s not hard to understand a healthy diet nor the concept of moderation.
Live your lives. Don’t be ignorant, but don’t live in fear, either. Eat the foods you enjoy. But we all know when we are over-indulging and we all know when we are abusing our bodies. Tomorrow, water will give us cancer too. Are you going to stop drinking water? No, because that’s just silly.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go smoke a cigarette, drink a cup of coffee and the only ‘glazing’ that will be done will be over this wonderful donut I’m about to scarf down. Ha.
Another thought on all of this ‘cancer causing foods’ topic. (Sorry, the more I think about this the more irritated I get).
Fact is, they don’t know what causes cancer. Period. If they did, they could eradicate it. (Well, in theory anyway… but we’re not talking about ins companies here).
You and I could eat the same exact diet our entire lives. I’m talking portioning and everything. We could live in the same house. Use all the same products… and I could die of cancer at 50 while you live to be 98 and pass away of old age alone. This is why every smoker does NOT die from lung cancer. Why on earth would I never eat another french fry, baked potato, grilled cheese sandwhich… yadda yadda yadda… over yet another report of yet another food producing yet another carcinogen?
Ok. I’m done now.
i wanted to rewrite this, i didnt like the tone i took when writing it…(if you think you get depressed reading my site Some of the time, you should know i only put about 1/4 of what i read on this site, and i dont put the worst stuff here…so sometimes i get crabby…)
They DO know that smoking causes cancer. Acrylimide does cause cancer. There is 300 times the safe amount of acryilmide in a box of mcdonalds fries.
And i dont agree with what you are talking about with cancer. I think that its like allergies. You can be exposed to dust one day and not break out, then the next day be exposed to the same dust and break out again. Why? you were exposed to some other allergen that you didnt realize.
I think its the same with cancer. Maybe the smokers who get cancer eat a lot of fried potatoes?
Maybe they had kinda crappy drinking water, with some contaminates in it… see what i mean? Plus there are genetic dispositions, etc.
So no, eating fries wont guarantee you get cancer. Neither will smoking. But no one argues that smoking is bad for you…
Oh I agree completely, smoking is a disgusting, filthy habit that’s not only bad for me but everyone around me… I also am inclined to think cancer is more of a genetic thing than anything (don’t get me wrong, lifestyle is a HUGE factor… but it helps explain the randomness, I think). But the thing with this article is all they have is lab rats with tumors. After YEARS of research they are still using words like “likely” and “possible”. It made no reference to the amount the animals were exposed to or what it would be in comparison to human consumption. It also stated that the known health risks in cutting out starches exceeds the potential risk demonstrated in lab animals. Out of everything in that story, that makes the most sense.
Again, common sense and moderation…
Everyone also knows McDonald’s is bad for you. Instead of picking on my poor beloved potato (there’s that damn Bleeding Irish Heart lol) in general… how ’bout you take a simple “don’t eat garbage” stand?
heh, true.
Although the potato isnt bad, its the frying or baking. Boil em and mash em, no problem…
Eating a healthy diet and drinking plenty of water along with getting regular exercise will improve how you feel and your skin looks. Food, therefore, would have a definite relationship to matter pushed out through the skin.
Thanks for your very useful information….Very nice blog . I need to read them again. Do we really have to post something to that effect on every website we have?