Fwd: [SoFlaVegans] Link Seen Between Cooking & Cancer

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Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

 

Link Seen Between Cooking and Cancer

By Mark Kaufman

 

http://www.mercola.com/2002/may/8/cooking_cancer.htm

 

The process of frying and baking starchy foods such as potatoes and

bread causes the formation of potentially harmful amounts of a

chemical listed as a probable carcinogen.

 

Swedish officials said they were so surprised by the information that

 

they decided to make it public immediately, rather than wait for

publication in a scientific journal.

 

The chemical, acrylamide, which is used industrially in the

manufacture of some plastics, is also apparently formed by the

heating of starches.

Foods with especially high levels of the chemical included french

fries, potato chips and crackers.

 

The governmental agency, following up on research by a group of

scientists at Stockholm University, studied more than 100 foods

bought in Swedish stores and restaurants and determined that " fried,

oven-baked and deep-fried potato and cereal products may contain high

levels of acrylamide. "

 

The high acrylamide levels were initially discovered during a

University of Stockholm study at a factory that used them

industrially.

 

A Food and Drug Administration official said that the agency had not

reviewed the report but that it considered the source to be

" credible. "

 

The Swedish report said that high doses of acrylamide have been shown

 

to cause cancers and that " it seems reasonable to conclude that a

significant number, perhaps several hundred, of the annual cancer

cases in Sweden can be attributed to acrylamide. "

 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes acrylamide as

white, odorless, flake-like crystals that are used mainly in treating

 

drinking water and for industrial purposes and can cause cancer in

people exposed to high levels for a long period.

 

Findings unveiled at a news conference called by the food

administration showed that an ordinary bag of potato crisps may

contain up to 500 times more of the substance than the top level

allowed in drinking water by the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

WHO recommends one microgram (one-millionth of a gram) per litre as a

maximum permitted for drinking water.

 

Researchers were surprised by the high levels found in both the

workers and the people used for a control study. The Swedish

government began testing acrylamide levels late last year and found

that they were elevated in many starch-rich foods that had been baked

or fried. They were not found, however, in raw or boiled foods,

leading researchers to conclude they were formed by the cooking

process.

 

Washington Post, April 25, 2002; Page A13

 

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DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT: E-mail to a friend

 

No real rocket science here. Breads and most grain products, like

potatoes, are not good for you anyway. Is it any surprise that when

you heat them at high temperatures even worse things will happen?

 

Raw foods are key to your health. Most cooked foods will lose

valuable nutrients due to their fragile nature. However, high

temperatures will also potentially cause formation of carcinogenic

substances as this study shows.

 

This has been shown for cooking meats over a grill in which

heterocyclic amines are formed

 

An efficient eating plan emphasizes the need for at least one-third

of your foods being consumed as raw.

 

I am not sure that eating a completely raw diet is practical for most

people, including me, but I do believe it is likely the fidyl higher

percentage of your food that is uncooked, or minimally cooked, the

healthier it will be for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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