Soon there won't be much left for people to eat without worrying about how much it could harm our well-being.
For decades, scientist have been tirelessly conducting studies to determine the impact our diets have on our overall health and life expectancy. While there have been links between manufactured foods and premature death, nothing has prepared us for the results of the latest food study.
Dr. Nicola Veronese, a scientist at the National Research Council in Padova, Italy, led a study that resulted in some surprising revelations about the danger of consuming fried potatoes.
You're probably thinking that this is a no-brainer considering fried foods have always been considered bad for health but there has only ever been limited research on specific food groups like potatoes.
Veronese and her team studied a cohort of 4,440 aged between 45 and 79 over a period of 8 years. They closely observed the participant's consumption of fried potatoes and came to the conclusion that those who ate french fries and other fried potato foods were two or three times more likely to double their risk of early death. Scary!
Find out how potatoes could endanger your health on the next page.
The experts involved in the study can't conclude that fried potatoes including french fries and hash brown are a direct cause for early mortality but factors like type of cooking oil, lifestyle and even salt content contribute to the risk.
"Even if it is an observational study, we believe that the cooking oil, rich in trans-fat, is an important factor in explaining mortality in those eating more potatoes," said Veronese.
Stephanie Schiff, a registered dietician at Northwell Health's Huntington Hospital in New York suggested that acrylamide could be another contributing factor.
Acrylamide is "a chemical produced when starchy foods such as potatoes are fried, roasted or baked at a high temperature," expalined Schiff. This chemical is toxic to humans and could potentially cause cancer.
National Potato Council CEO John Keeling argued that you will still get the basic nutrients from the starchy vegetable no matter how it is prepared. So potato itself is not the culprit here, the method of cooking is the problem.
If you're going to eat potatoes more than once a week, Schiff suggests steaming rather than frying and "increase your intake of fruits and vegetables for a healthier alternative."
Will this change how often to indulge in fried potato treats? Let us know!
[H/T: CNN]