"Once you've used it, you can't go back!" "It's really great to eat! You should definitely try it! You can make everything from steaks to cakes!" "With just a little oil! The bag will make you feel guilty about eating fries in half and in half!" Many people who own air fryers are binge-popping homemade food photos, and those who haven't bought them yet are wishing for air fryers. Every year or two, different kitchen appliances will become popular, and this time the air fryer that advertises to make healthy fried food, is it really healthier?
Why are fried foods bad?
Let's start with a simple statistic: 100 grams of "roast chicken" without skin has a total fat content of 3.6 grams, while a 100 grams of "fried chicken" without skin has a total fat content of 4.7 grams. In other words, the fat content of fried chicken will be 30% more than that of roast chicken.
In addition to the high calorie and fat content of fried food, some compounds will also be produced when food is fried at high temperatures. Starchy foods will produce acrylamide when heated at high temperatures, and delicious fried foods, such as french fries, potato chips and other fried potato foods, will produce acrylamide. Acrylamide is a carcinogen and is associated with endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, and esophageal cancer. If you eat too much starch fried food, you will have more acrylamide, which is not a good thing for your health.
There are many polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polycyclic amines in fried meat food, and we are usually very unfamiliar with the names of these compounds, but as long as we remember, these compounds are often carcinogens, and long-term exposure to lung cancer, liver cancer, stomach cancer, skin cancer and other cancers are related. And the higher the heat, the longer it takes, the more likely it is to produce these compounds. When frying, the food will undergo high temperatures, resulting in the Mena reaction, and the glycation end products appear, so that the protein or fat plus sugar molecules are linked together, and the more glycation end products accumulate, which are related to many chronic diseases such as sarcopenia, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, Alzheimer's disease, etc.!
How does an air fryer cook?
In the past, it took a large pot of hot oil to fry salted crispy chicken and McChicken nuggets, and it was this pot of liquid oil that was responsible for conducting heat energy. Now you can do it with an air fryer, about a spoonful of oil. An air fryer circulates hot air around the food, causing it to heat quickly and evenly, with convective hot air conducting heat (similar to an oven). When the food is cooked in the air fryer, it creates a crispy crust, and the color of the food is very similar to that of the original fried food, and the texture is similar. Usually when using an air fryer, the temperature setting will exceed 150 degrees Celsius, and the cooking time will be a little longer than if it is fried.
Possible benefits of an air fryer
Originally, we fished out fried chicken nuggets, fried chicken wings, french fries and other fried foods from a large pot of hot oil, but when we switched to using an air fryer to make these fried foods, less oil was needed, and the chicken nuggets and french fries would not absorb the oil first. A deep-fried chicken thigh contains 19 grams of oil, and the amount of oil in an air-fried chicken thigh of the same weight drops to 5 grams. By changing the frying method to air frying, the calories of the same weight of food are reduced. As a result, the eater eats less oil and fewer calories, so it may be possible to lose weight. As mentioned earlier, "starchy foods can produce carcinogen acrylamide when heated at high temperatures". A 2015 study compared the acrylamide contained in french fries at the same temperature (180 degrees Celsius) and found that french fries contained much less acrylamide than french fries. In other words, the air fryer provides a less oily option for frying than the original frying method, and the amount of acrylamide, a carcinogen after air frying starchy foods, is also reduced.
Harmless?
But what if we are frying meat, like air-fried chicken thighs, air-fried chicken wings, Mack chicken nuggets, etc., the temperature of the air fryer is also very high. As long as the protein encounters high temperature, it will produce more polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polycyclic amines, which increases the possibility of cancer. Therefore, compared with other cooking methods such as boiling, blanching, and quick stir-frying over medium-low heat, the air fryer provides a higher temperature and a longer time, and it is not relatively healthy. An air fryer is designed to replace fried food, not all cooking methods. We should reduce the amount of fried food we consume, rather than switch to another high-temperature cooking method.
Long-term health studies based on air fryers alone are limited, but most nutrition experts believe that air frying increases taste or convenience of frying food, and reduces fat use compared to frying, but it does not mean that air frying is healthier than other cooking methods such as stewing. High temperatures can affect the subsequent changes in food, especially protein, so "healthy fried food" is hard to come by. In daily life, don't think that "air-fried fries and chicken nuggets are healthy, I can eat more", "Since switching to an air fryer, I can eat fried chicken every day". Many people, after alleviating their guilt, have lowered their mental threshold, and instead eat more fried food, which is not OK, let alone change the original boiled and stewed food to be served in the air frying method, and use the air fryer to process the food every day. It should be better to eat more fresh vegetables and fruits, eat boiled, blanched, and fried lean meat and protein over medium and low heat, and reduce the intake of extremely high-temperature cooking products, so as to be called a healthy diet.