Many of us have to admit that we have a love/hate relationship with French fries. We love how they taste but hate what they do to our health. And now there’s a new study confirming that we need to just say no when it comes to eating French fries.
This new study was published in the June 7, 2017 issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Researchers found that people who eat fried potatoes (French fries, hash browns) on a consistent basis (more than two times per week) were more than twice as likely to die prematurely than people who eat fried potatoes less often. Yikes!
This was an eight-year study that featured 4,440 participants aged 45 to 79. Food frequency questionnaires were used to determine consumption of fried potatoes and unfried potatoes. And then the researchers correlated that information to participants who died during the study period.
Is there any good news with this new study? First, there was no association between premature death and unfried potatoes, and second, the adverse health effects were only evident with consumption of fried potatoes two or more times per week—so frequency matters. This suggests that we don’t need to give up the fries entirely we just need to cut back. As a general rule, we recommend that if you enjoy French fries, you limit your consumption to once or twice a month. Of course, the best advice is to avoid eating fried potatoes completely!
Why are fried potatoes so bad for us? When we use high heat to fry this common source of carbohydrates, acrylamides are created. Acrylamides are cancer-causing compounds that can harm health on many levels.
So there you have it Thriver. The next time you are asked, “Would you like fries with that?” We highly encourage your answer to be, “No thank you!”