potatoes...cancer????

[hotgirl_03]

i heard that potatoes can cause cancer is this true? (i think he was talkin about potatoe chips but im not completely sure)

[Scooby-Doo]

I dont think Potatoes themselves casue cancer. If he was talking about potaoe chip its proboly becasue of some additive in them. Now a days everything seems to casue cancer.

[hotgirl_03]

yea thats true. but why then isnt it wider known???

[Jane]

Because the majority of the population is completely misinformed on most issues pertaining to nutrition and health.

[Scooby-Doo]

It proboly isnt know just because the American Public doent care. If you like chips I'm sure you could find some good ones without nasty additives at a local health food store.

[Scooby-Doo]

Good answer Jane.

[hotgirl_03]

right thanks for ur help

[Delphi]

I a living proof that potatoes do NOT cause cancer. There, I knew I had some purpose on this earth.

[breeze]

A study was released last week that stated high carb foods like potatoes does cause cancer when they are cooked in high heat like frying and baking. But boiling potatoes doesn't doesn't cause any problems.

[Tryska]

probably the transfats wheny oua re talking about potato chips and french fries and the like.


trans fatty acids are definitely cancer causing imo.

[breeze]

Here is an article published last week.


STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Potato chips, french fries and other high-carbohydrate foods contain a substance that may cause cancer, according to a study released Wednesday by Swedish food authorities.


The substance, called acrylamide, forms in varying levels when carbohydrates are heated in a certain way, such as by frying potatoes or baking bread, researchers said.

"The discovery that acrylamide is formed during the preparation of food ... is new knowledge," Leif Busk, chief researcher at the National Food Administration, told a news conference. "It may now be possible to explain some of the cases of cancer caused by food."

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 agent has been classified as a "probable human carcinogen," in food, but experts not involved with the study cautioned that no link to cancer had been confirmed.

Officials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) did not immediately comment, but food scientists in the United States urged consumers to be patient and not overreact to the Swedish study.

"I think we need to step back a little bit and wait for greater discussion of the issue and see the findings presented in more detail," said Carl Winter, a toxicologist at the University of California at Davis. "The most important thing is not the presence or absence of any type of ingredient, but how much is there."

Winter pointed out that it was unusual for such results to be released before publication in a scientific journal and said more investigation was needed.

"I would caution consumers to be a little patient here," he said. "Cancer's a very scary word, but one has to understand how these tests are done."

The Swedish agency said the findings have been submitted to unspecified international researchers and to the 15-nation European Union (news - web sites) for consideration, but they felt the information was important enough to release now.

"I am quite sure that this is a problem everywhere and we need to do something about it," Busk said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) 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.

Mary Ellen Camire, a food scientist and nutritionist at the University of Maine, was skeptical about any link to cancer and said it was important to remember that whole-grain bread and potatoes contain a lot of important nutrients.

"The risk-to-benefit ratio is hard to estimate," she said. "We eat a lot of strange chemicals, but that's life (news - Y! TV). You just have to get a balance."

Busk estimated that acrylamide could be responsible for several hundred of the 45,000 cancer cases in Sweden each year, based on experiments in which rats were fed fried food, but he declined to be more specific about the possible cancer risk.

The Swedish agency did not issue new guidelines on what or how to eat, although researchers pointed out that it's always more healthy to avoid fried foods.

"Do not stop eating these foods, but beware of what you eat, eat more cooked food, more vegetables," said Lilianne Abramsson Zetterberg, a toxicologist with the government agency.

____

On the Net:

National Food Administration, http://www.slv.se

[Tryska]

huh. how ironically interesting.

[Scooby-Doo]

breathing air has been shown to cause cancer.

( the scary part is I'm not joking! )

[hotgirl_03]

i heard that people r mad that trans fatty acids r not on the labels of food and peeps r tryin to change that since they r the worst for u.

[the doc]

it would be nice. right now they are counted as mono- or poly- unsat fats for labels. This is quite deceiving

[Reinier]

lol if potatoes themselves caused cancer the Dutch population would have been dead. here just about everybody eats a good load of em every single day

[Tryska]

if you read the labels tho you can spot them.

basically if it says "partially hydrogentated yadda yadda yadda" in the label it's got trans-fats in it.

[hotgirl_03]

Originally posted by Tryska
if you read the labels tho you can spot them.

basically if it says "partially hydrogentated yadda yadda yadda" in the label it's got trans-fats in it.

yea actually if u look at total fat-15g and the only thing there is polyunsaturated-8 then the other 7g are transfatty acids!

[Tryska]

or mono-unsaturateds which don't by law have to be on the label. your best bet is to look at the ingredient lsit.

[the doc]

ok, potatos do not cause cancer.

This arose from the study which found significant amounts of acrylamide in high gi carbohydrate rich foods that had been baked or fried

acrylamide is a known carcinogen

It is most likely forming from the pyrrolisis (high heat induced chemical reaction) of carbohydrate in the presence of proteins/amino acids. It would most likely be forming the the browned areas of fried/baked items
Now there is no data yet as to the fate of the acrylamide and its cancer causing potency. Also, many foods will have higher levels then others. boiled foods were contained no acrylamide

[Leviathan]

Almost everything in this world causes some sort of cancer. If you breath the air, you get lung cancer, if you step outside in the sun, you get skin cancer, if you eat the food you get digestive cancer, etc.

Just live your life - don't worry about everything that MIGHT kill you.

[Wizard]

every asshole makes a study and thinks that he discovered america..
don't walk.. it causes cancer....
don't breathe.. it causes cancer...
don't fu*k.. it causes cancer..