Crunchy culprit: Study shows how to tackle acrylamide in French fries
Ahmedabad: That satisfying crunch in French fries and toasted sandwiches might be coming at a hidden cost. The crunch is attributed to a substance identified as acrylamide, which gives the distinct brown colour to deep-fried foods.
According to several studies, the substance is linked to various gastrointestinal (GI) issues and can even lead to cancer if consumed very frequently. Research carried out at IIT Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn) addressed the issue by using amino acid adducts (AAA). The findings were published in the form of a paper titled 'Sequestration of acrylamide as amino acid-acrylamide adducts mitigates cellular stress in human gastrointestinal cell lines' recently in the journal, Food and Function, of the UK-based Royal Society of Chemistry.
The authors were Axita Patel and Prof Bhaskar Datta.
"Starchy foods exposed to frying, baking or roasting are vulnerable to forming acrylamide through a chemical reaction between a natural sugar (glucose) and an amino acid (asparagine). This reaction is identified as the Maillard reaction. Acrylamide is commonly found in fried potato products (French fries, chips), biscuits, toast, cookies and coffee, to name a few," said Prof Datta.
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"Before its association with food, it was always associated with the chemical industry as a versatile petrochemical.
"
The researchers said that the rise in foods prepared at high temperatures has resulted in higher exposure to acrylamide. Acrylamide's toxic effects create oxidative stress, which affects cells in the GI tract, causing inflammation, tissue damage and even cancer.
Prof Datta said that to counter acrylamide, they employed AAA.
The interaction of AAA as a 'treatment agent' indicated significantly lower production of acrylamide. The team used amino acids lysine, glycine, cysteine and methionine to form stable adducts to capture acrylamide. The team is also working on sprinkle-type formulations that can be applied to raw potatoes before frying.
"The study opens a new way to look at 'capturing' acrylamide to reduce its harmful effects through specific amino acids and also underlines the reason for avoiding fried starchy food not only for cholesterol but also for acrylamide.
Regular consumption of antioxidants is also important," said Prof Datta.
He gave a practical tip to French fries enthusiasts. "As evident in our work, a simple blanching of potatoes (briefly submerged in very hot water and then quickly cooled in ice water) before they are fried can reduce the acrylamide content," he said.
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