Comparing frying, roasting, and baking potatoes, frying causes the highest acrylamide formation. Roasting potato pieces causes less acrylamide formation, followed by baking whole potatoes. Boiling potatoes and microwaving whole potatoes with skin on to make “microwaved baked potatoes” does not produce acrylamide.
High temperature cooking, such as frying, roasting, or baking, is most likely to cause acrylamide formation. Boiling and steaming do not typically form acrylamide. Acrylamide is found mainly in foods made from plants, such as potato products, grain products, or coffee.
Deep-fry potato products, such as chips and French fries to a golden yellow, or lighter colour. The oil temperature for cooking should ideally be below 175⁰C. Cooking to a golden yellow, or lighter colour, and deep-frying at lower temperatures will keep acrylamide levels low.
Limit certain cooking methods, such as frying and roasting, and limit the time certain foods are cooked. Boiling and steaming do not produce acrylamide.
It's most likely to be found in grains, potatoes or coffee heated to high temperatures. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cites these food sources as having the highest levels of acrylamide when heated to high temperatures: French fries.
Tests with antioxidants
Even rosemary in small quantities – in one per cent of the dough – was enough to reduce the acrylamide content significantly. Flavonoids are another type of antioxidant found, among other things, in vegetables, chocolate and tea.
An easy way to prepare potatoes at a cookout is to wrap them in aluminum foil before grilling. That will steam them instead, and steaming doesn't produce acrylamide. Neither does boiling. If you're slicing potatoes, rinse the slices in water before cooking by any method, which will also reduce acrylamide formation.
Histopathological evidence of acrylamide-induced peripheral neuropathy has been observed in rats receiving oral doses as low as 1 mg/kg/day for 3 months; the observed degenerative effects in peripheral nerve fibers at such dose levels have been shown to be completely reversible within a few months following the ...
In fried potatoes and rice, heating and cooking time were found to directly affect the synthesis of acrylamide, with a considerable amount of acrylamide formed at temperatures above 120 °C, primarily at 150 to 180 °C and decreasing at higher degrees (Osman et al., 2015) .
Drinking more water, a lot more water for some of us, will probably be the most important thing you can do to get rid of Acrylamide. However, make sure you are drinking pure water; otherwise you may inadvertently increase your exposure. Taking herbs to improve kidney and liver detoxification may be helpful.
Once in your body, acrylamide enters your body fluids. Acrylamide and its breakdown products leave your body mostly through urine; small amounts may leave through feces, exhaled air, and breast milk.
Acrylamide usually forms at elevated temperatures used when frying or baking (above 120 °C (248 °F)) and in low moisture conditions.
The formation of acrylamide in both banana varieties was enhanced with an increase in both reducing sugars (glucose and fructose). This research demonstrated that the formation of acrylamide was strongly dependent on the concentration of, both glucose and fructose.
Summary: Good news for chips lovers everywhere -- new research in the journal Science of Food and Agriculture shows that pre-soaking potatoes in water before frying can reduce levels of acrylamide.
Acrylamide is known to affect the nervous system with early signs of exposure including numbness, tingling, and tenderness to touch.
Oats have the second highest acrylamide forming potential of rye, wheat, barley and oats. Several studies have found high levels of acrylamide in oat products that exceed the benchmark limits within the EU. These limits might be strict limits in future which every food producer needs to follow.
Acrylamide in oil
Acrylamide is not found in cooking oil but if starchy food like potatoes are fried in oil and that oil is reused, then acrylamide levels can build up.
Acrylamide forms from sugars and an amino acid that are naturally present in food. It does not form, or forms at lower levels, in dairy, meat and fish products.
Leaving the skins on the potato brings extra nutrients to the food. For example, one potato skin, about 58 grams, offers 4.5 grams of fiber, and 332 milligrams of potassium (which is a good source of potassium in your daily value). That means that half of the total fiber from a medium potato comes from the skin!
You'll want to boil potatoes any time you don't want them to dry out (as they can when baked in the oven).
A good rule of thumb is to go with a 2-inch dice on the potatoes before boiling them. Cutting potatoes before boiling does aid in removing excess starch. Excess starch can make potatoes gummy or gluey. That said, cutting the potatoes too small can lead to too much water absorbing into the potatoes.
The major food sources of acrylamide are French fries and potato chips; crackers, bread, and cookies; breakfast cereals; canned black olives; prune juice; and coffee.
Bread often contains what may be considered to be low amounts of acrylamide. However, due to its high consumption rate, its contribution to dietary exposure is still considerable.
How can acrylamide affect my health? The main targets of acrylamide toxicity are the nervous system and reproductive system. Nervous system effects such as muscle weakness, numbness in hands and feet, sweating, unsteadiness, and clumsiness were reported in some acrylamide workers.