Fried Carbohydrates Form Carcinogens

An Anonymous Coward writes "Reuters (via Yahoo) is reporting that a Swedish team has found that cooking certain high-carbohydrate foods creates acrylamide (which is a suspected human carcinogen). The scientists felt this was so important that they have foregone publishing in favor of taking this public immediately. Potato chip stocks are taking nosedives in Scandanavia."

Comments

So important they couldn't wait to make mistakes?

[Wonko42]

They thought this was so important that they haven't bothered getting their facts checked or having their research reviewed? Sounds like they actually thought it was more important to alarm the public than to follow procedure and make sure their research is correct before announcing their findings. That's what publishing is for.

This sounds very fishy.

Not NEARLY enough study.

[blair1q]

There's no way the rest of the food you eat with this stuff is irrelevant to its carcinogenic potential.

These scientists are being irresponsible in releasing this information prematurely without copious disclaimers.

Apparently, fame (or profit) is more important than truth.

--Blair

Your life...

[jcenters]

...is ending a little every second, so stop worrying about every stinking thing you eat.

You have only a limited amount of time on planet earth, anyway. If you like eating potato chips, eat potato chips! If you like to smoke, fire one up! If you like to post inane comments on slashdot, type away! I'd rather enjoy life for thirty years as opposed to living perfectly clean, eating nothing but raw vegetables, and living to be 150.

And make an impact! If you're pissed about something your government does, raise hell about it! Write a book! Start a political movement! Paint a picture! LIVE!!!!

I'll be damned if I'm going to waste hours of my life worrying about things that are going to kill me, because there are things a lot more immediately dangerous than POTATO CHIPS.

Re:Your life...

[shrikel]

Well, you have a point there, but sometimes a little caution goes a long way. There's a balance between "living in the moment" and "being responsible." (Or whatever you want to call it. Taking care of yourself.)

I wouldn't, for example, ignore out of hand the harmful effects of smoking. Statistically speaking, each cigarette costs its smoker 11 minutes of his/her life. So if you REALLY WANT to throw away that much time for a cigarette, more power to ya.

But at least consider the effects. I would certainly give up potato chips if I thought they would shorten my life by several years. Hey, they're tasty, but they're not THAT tasty.

I don't mean to say that what you're saying is unfounded. I personally don't plan to change my potato-chip eating habits ;), but I do think one ought to balance the risk against any benefits they may get out of something.

How does that saying go? "Don't trade what you want most for what you want now.

Bunch o' crap

[Paradise Pete]

This is absurd. Cooked carbohydrates are consumed in massive quantities. If it were as dangerous as this people would be dropping like flies.

And BTW, why does the headline read "Fried Carbohydrates," when the article itself doesn't single out frying, but rather says that any cooking method does this?

Chemistry?!

[dragonfly28]

So food contains high levels of acrylamide. It's very nice that the authors are so worried about the general publics safety. But ususal procedures are there for a reason: to make sure no stupid mistakes occur.

I find this story really hard to believe, especially that how the acrylamide is produced is never stated in a chemical way. Then there is the fact that acrylamide has the tendensy to produce polymers quite easily and if the values found in food are so high. I'm quite surprised that no acrylic polymers are found (which are a lot less harmfull).