Highlighting the seriousness of possible dangers to your health from consuming the many unhealthy foods which are available on the market has the potential to alarm the general public. A growing awareness of the risks to your health from bad food has many people in Syracuse asking for the bottom line on how unsafe fried foods really are. New research has shown that fried foods may be more dangerous than previously thought. The Alpha Galileo Foundation has published a report "Toxic aldehydes detected in reheated oil."
The presence of certain aldehydes in food, which are believed to be related to some neurodegenerative diseases and some types of cancer, has been reported by researchers from the University of the Basque Country in Spain. These toxic compounds are found in some oils, such as sunflower oil, when heated at a suitable temperature for frying. María Dolores Guillén, a lecturer in the Pharmacy and Food Technology Department has said “It was known that at frying temperature, oil releases aldehydes that pollute the atmosphere and can be inhaled, so we decided to research into whether these remain in the oil after they are heated, and they do."
These toxic aldehydes are a result of degradation of the fatty acids in oil. Some of the toxic aldehydes are volatile, while others remain after frying. And so this is why they can be found in cooked food. Because they are very reactive compounds they can react with proteins, hormones and enzymes in the organism and undermine its correct functioning. This research, which has been published in the Food Chemistry journal, involved the heating of three types of oil (olive, sunflower and flaxseeds) in an industrial deep fryer at 190 ºC.
Using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry techniques, the results showed that sunflower and linseed oil are the ones that create the most toxic aldehydes in less time. These oils are noted as being high in polyunsaturated fats (linoleic and linolenic). But, olive oil, which has a higher concentration of monounsaturated fats (such as oleic), generates these harmful compounds in a smaller amount.
Previous studies have shown that in oils subjected to frying temperatures, other toxic substances, including alkyl benzenes (aromatic hydrocarbons) were found. It was concluded that of the oils studied, olive oil is the one that creates the least. Guillén has commented "It is not intended to alarm the population, but this data is what it is, and it should be taken into account."
