Very popular airfryers are also very dangerous for our health ?

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Airfryers are all the rage. These air fryers are very popular, especially in sports communities, because they allow you to do frying food using very little oil, which reduces fat intake. But behind this extreme popularity, these air fryers are not without their dangers.

< p>A new study, led by Semra Navrez Varli, a researcher at the University of Ankara in Turkey, shows that these hot air cooking methods are not without risk. Airfryers tend to release more acrylamide during cooking than conventional oil fryers.

This substance is recognized as “probably carcinogenic” by the WHO. It forms naturally during high-temperature cooking of certain foods rich in starch such as pizza dough, potatoes or cereals in general.

While the scientific community recognizes that airfryer cooking produces acrylamide, it is still very divided on the quantities produced. Some studies, such as that of Professor Navrez Varli, assure that acrylamide production is higher when cooking with hot air. Other researchers defend the opposite thesis.

A question of temperature

The answer could be found in the cooking temperature. As Professor Navrez Varli demonstrated in her study, using an airfryer generally brings food to higher temperatures. In her experiment, she cooked potatoes in two fryers, one in air and the other in oil.

In this fryer filled with oil, the potatoes reached a maximum of 195 °C. In the airfryer, however, they rose to 229°C. According to the researcher, it is this difference that causes an increase in acrylamide production.

Cooking with oil or air ?

Faced with so much scientific data, it would be quite normal to be a little lost. Could cooking with less hot oil ultimately be a good solution?? Nothing could be less certain. Because cooking with oil is not perfect for all that.

When frying, the more oil you use, the more trans fatty acids you will produce. These particles are known to increase the risk of breast or prostate cancer. The less oil you use, the better it is for your health in the long term.

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In short, it is better to continue using air fryers. They produce fewer fatty acids and allow you to cook with the same flavors, while offering meals that are less rich in fat. The trick is to try to cook with a fairly low cooking temperature, to reduce acrylamide production as much as possible.

Note, however, that intense cooking will not put you in danger. Scientists are adamant that it is important to follow these rules “in broad outline” to avoid putting yourself in danger, but a single cooking with a lot of oil or at a very high temperature will not have dramatic consequences.

The eternal pollutants

You finally know how to prepare your next meal. The amount of oil and the temperature will be adjusted to limit the risks as much as possible, but all these efforts could actually be for nothing. Indeed, fryers, whether oil or air fryers, have another great enemy: eternal pollutants.

Like many kitchen appliances, they have a non-stick coating. However, in some cases, this can release pollutants (PFOA, PFAS, PFOS and BPA). These synthetic chemicals have been recognized as carcinogenic to humans (particularly kidney and testicular cancer).

They are particularly dangerous for pregnant women. Since July 4, 2020, the use of PFOA has been banned in the European Union.

A few tips to limit the risks

To protect yourself against this other source of pollution, here are a few simple rules to follow. It is therefore advisable to never heat your airfryer “empty”. This would tend to damage the non-stick surfaces, which are what contain PFOA and other PFAS.

It is also recommended to use wooden or silicone appliances in your airfryer to avoid scratching the coating. Do not use abrasive sponges to clean your appliance. It is also recommended to turn on the cooking hood as soon as the airfryer is running to limit the presence of these volatile particles in the air.

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