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Frying And
Deep-Frying
Ok, this will be a hard one for
some, but we would not have your better interests at heart if we held back on
the truth. We believe that frying and deep frying are major causes of cancer -
and there is plenty of scientific evidence to support this.
As you consider the following,
may we again remind you that you do not have to give up anything - you only have to switch
to using better alternatives. Whatever you have fried in the past can be baked
and, because your taste buds will not be coated in oil, your food will taste so
much better - especially if you bake at a temperature not exceeding 160C.
Whatever you have sautéed in the past can be sautéed in cold processed/cold
pressed sesame oil provided you do so at a low temperature - and only if you
have a glass Vision frying pan. You do not want to sauté in any
metal pan. Also see the
"Safe"
Frying suggestions below.
Whether you take this advice
seriously or not, and we urge you to do so, do read the warnings regarding
non-stick cookware and
pop-corn vendors.
Frying - Be Warned?
`What happens in frying?
Temperatures up to 600-700 degrees F. may be obtained. If fried foods become
burned or scorched, temperatures up to 1000 or 1100 degrees F. may have been
reached. At these temperatures ``cis'' fatty acids are converted to ``trans''
fatty acids . . . in other words, the unsaturated fats behave as if they were
saturated. Thus, fried foods are more likely than un-fried foods to increase the
likelihood of hardening of the arteries. When fat is reheated to frying
temperatures the second time, as in a deep fryer [or a popcorn vendor], the fat
is more likely to develop the cancer producing agent acrolein.' (Dr Agatha
Thrash, Nutrition for Vegetarians, p. 46)
`The dangers to health of frying
and deep-frying result from rapid oxidation and other chemical changes that take
place when oils are subjected to high temperature in the presence of light and
oxygen.
First, antioxidants in the oil (vitamin E and carotene) are used up.
Then, frying and deep-frying produce free radicals that start chain reactions in
oil molecules.
`Under these conditions, many
chemical changes take place in oils. Frying and deep-frying produce some trans-
fatty acids. These are the least harmful of the altered molecules
produced by these processes.
Other oxidation products are far more toxic than trans- fatty acids.
Scores of unnatural breakdown, dimer, and polymer products with unknown effects
on health are produced by frying and deep-frying.
`Frying with oils once will not
kill us, and so [this practice] seems harmless. Our body copes with toxic
substances. But over 10, 20, or 30 years, our cells accumulate altered and toxic
products for which they have not evolved efficient detoxifying mechanisms. The
altered and toxic substances interfere with our body's life chemistry, our
`bio-chemistry'. Cells then degenerate, and these degenerative processes
manifest as degenerative diseases. (Udo Erasmus, Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill,
pg. 125,126)
"Safe"
Frying
`Frying is not recommended,
because safe frying is a contradiction in terms. Frying temperatures are too
high. When foods turn brown, they have been burned. The nutrients in the browned
material have been destroyed. Proteins turn into carcinogenic acrolein. Starches
and sugars are browned (caramelized) through molecular destruction. Fats and
oils are turned to smoke by destruction of fatty acids and glycerol.
(Udo Erasmus, Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill, pg. 126)
`There is a way of frying with
oils that contain EFAs that is less damaging than common frying
practices, but this way of frying requires more care on our part than we
ordinarily take in our frying operations.
`Traditional Chinese cooks first
put water in their wok, not oil (North American Chinese cooks have largely
abandoned this wise practice). Water keeps the temperature down to 100ºC
(212ºF), a non-destructive temperature.
`In European gourmet cooking,
vegetables placed in the frying pan before oil is added protect the oil from
overheating and oxidation. The food tastes less burned, retains more of its
natural flavors and nutrients and, most important, supports our health better.
`It requires care to fry foods in
this way, because we cannot be away doing something else at the same time. It
would be best to not fry at all, and to eat our fresh oils on salads or get them
from eating seeds. We are creatures of habit, but a small change in the way we
fry with oils pays large dividends in health and wellbeing.
`In frying, our usual custom is
to pour oil into an empty frying pan, and to let it heat, shimmy, and smoke
before adding the foods we want to fry. During this time, the oil is being
destroyed. The temperature is too high.
Light-catalyzed free radical oxidation reactions occur extremely rapidly.
`Oil kept at 215ºC (419ºF) for 15
minutes or more consistently produces atherosclerosis when fed to experimental
animals. In commercial deep-frying operations, the same batch of oil is often
kept at a high temperature constantly for days. Many altered substances
have been isolated from such oils. Some are known to be toxic; the effects of
many others are not known; and we can be fairly confident that none of them will
improve health.
`Oils least damaged by high
temperatures and oxygen include (in order of preference):
[the latter 6 oils are all
distributed by Nature's Choice in a cold pressed and cold processed form - but
we still suggest that you switch to baking wherever possible rather than
frying.]
`These oils are EFA-poor, and
produce the lowest amount of toxic molecules when heated. The EFAs required for
health must come from other sources.
`Frying and deep-frying are
completely prohibited if optimum health is what you are after, or if you are
attempting to reverse cancer or any other degenerative condition using natural
means. (Udo Erasmus, Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill, pg. 125-128)
General Warnings:
Pop-Corn Vendors: [Have you ever looked inside the frying pot in a
popcorn vending machine? It is usually black and caked with very old grease. The oil
will have been heated hundreds of times over and must constitute one of the
greatest dangers to health. When next you have a cold or the flu, think back on
whether you ate popcorn from a vending machine over the past few days. (If you
did not do so, then you probably consumed an unhealthy dose of
sugar over the past few days.)
Frying In Cream: Some
people get the idea that because we sometimes recommend the
use of cream in place of oil in recipes, they can safely fry in cream. This is
not so. While cream from a healthy cow is a better alternative to any free fat,
when we heat cream, the fat in the cream will be converted into a damaging fat.
One symptom of eating food that has been fried in cream is the inability to fall asleep at night.
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