Fried food always needs hot oil. Many people like to eat it, but they are afraid of being unhealthy. While the air fryer is popular because of "no oil" and "less oil", there are also some voices questioning that "the air fryer will cause cancer". Some people believe that the working temperature of the air fryer is 180 ℃ - 200 ℃. When heating food, once the temperature exceeds 120 ℃, acrylamide carcinogens will be produced.
1. The production of acrylamide is not the fault of the air fryer
Let's first look at how acrylamide is produced. Acrylamide is produced by Maillard reaction of "reducing sugar" (such as glucose, fructose, etc.) and some amino acids (mainly aspartic acid) during frying, baking and baking. Maillard reaction may be strange to you, but in fact, it can be seen everywhere in our life. For example, the smell and color produced by barbecue and toast are the function of Maillard reaction.
Therefore, as long as there are carbohydrates and proteins in food, acrylamide will inevitably be produced during high-temperature heating. For example, we usually use ordinary pots to fry, fry, braised or roast food at high temperature, which more or less contains acrylamide.
Compared with ordinary frying, the main feature of air fryer frying is "less oil" or "no oil", but this can not prevent the production of acrylamide. Even French fries fried in an air fryer will appear acrylamide. Therefore, the production of acrylamide really can't blame the air fryer.
In addition, we should know that the main way for us Chinese to eat acrylamide is cooking, because we are used to stir frying, and it is easy to produce acrylamide at high temperature.
2. Daily consumption of heated food is not harmful to the body
Acrylamide is indeed a potential carcinogen. After assessment by the World Health Organization, it is classified as a class 2A carcinogen, which means that although it has theoretical carcinogenicity to human body, the experimental evidence is limited.
Due to different eating habits, the relevant data of each country are also different, but the overall amount of acrylamide we eat is not much. The average intake level estimated by the World Health Organization is 20-30 micrograms per person per day. The average daily intake of acrylamide for Chinese residents is about 18 micrograms (based on 60 kg body weight). Generally speaking, this intake is very safe and don't worry too much.
