As if we haven’t got enough things to worry about, 8 years ago Swedish scientists discovered that acrylamide, a synthetic potentially dangerous chemical used for various industrial purposes, also appears in french fries and potato chips. More accurately, it forms in some foods during high-temperature cooking processes, such as frying, roasting, and baking.

What you need to know:

1. Acrylamide is formed in a high heat reaction of sugars and asparagine (an amino acid) that are naturally present in certain foods such as potatoes and breads.

2. Frying, roasting, and cooking form acrylamide, but not boiling, steaming, or microwaving.

3. Acrylamide can also be found in cigarette smoke.

4. The health risks associated with acrylamide are still being investigated by health organizations and the FDA. It has been shown to cause cancer in animals in high doses. Additional evidence talks about damage to reproductive glands.

5. Coffee, potatoes, and grain products are foods that form the highest level of acrylamide, whereas meat and dairy products produce almost none.

6. Acrylamide levels increase the higher the heat level and the longer the food is exposed to the heat source.

7. Frying creates the most acrylamide, roasting less, and baking the lowest of the three.

What to do in the kitchen:

8. Store your potatoes above 46 degrees Fahrenheit. At lower temperatures, fructose content in the potato rises sharply and that results in more acrylamide forming while frying or baking.

9. Soaking raw potato slices in water for 15-30 minutes before frying or roasting helps reduce acrylamide formation during cooking.

10. Fry potatoes rarely (french fires are not exactly a health food you know), and when you do, stop when they become golden, but not brown.

11. When toasting bread, prefer a lightly colored toast to a brown one.

sources of information: FDA, WHO

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Over the weekend, USA Today published a great piece about the cost of healthy eating. The bottom line is that for most people eating healthfully means paying more, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

The article comes at a time when more Americans are stretched for dollars, stressed out from the recession, and resorting more and more to comfort foods that are not always nutritious. As luck (?) would have it the cheapest most comforting foods are the ones that are the worst for our waistlines.

It’s a hard fact: Eating healthier can cost more. When you’re hungry, you go for what’s most filling, meaning calorie-dense foods with lots of added fat and sugar.

Dr. Adam Drewnowski, who directs the University of Washington Center for Public Health Nutrition has been researching the nutrition profiles of various foods for several years. He created algorithms to calculate the nutrient density of foods by examining each product’s nutrients to encourage (protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals) and nutrients to limit (saturated fats, sodium, added sugars). Running the calculations on database of thousands of foods showed unequivocally that nutrient dense foods tend to be more expensive.

However, there is hope.

Knowing how to eat well is based on “knowledge, money and time,” Drewnowski says. “If you’re trying to save money, you need to invest your knowledge and time into learning how to cook and finding the right foods.”

Here is a simple example – French fries are not a healthy choice, but the potato they come from is. Instead of getting fries at McDonald’s (saves time), why not bake potatoes (invest time in learning and cooking).

What you need to know:

Convenience is the key word here.

The entire fast food industry was born so that Americans could get food more conveniently an save time. TV Dinners were a great convenience to moms who joined the work force in the 1950’s and 60’s and no longer had time to cook at home. The tradition of convenience continues today with deli counters at the supermarket, precut salads, and ready made pasts sauces, soups, and whatnot.

These conveniences cost money. And if they are labeled as healthy conveniences, they’ll cost even more.

Granted, we need this convenience because we barely have enough hours in a day to survive, let alone spend them in the kitchen cooking.

But if we look at statistics, Americans are spending 2-4 hours a day in front of a screen, whether TV, Computer, or video game.

What if we took just 10% of that time and spent it on acquiring basic food preparation skills and employing them in our kitchen?

A trick that works for busy parents is to set aside a block of 3-5 hours on the weekend to cook for the entire upcoming week. Thank goodness for large freezers.

An important investment is teaching your kids to prepare foods. It can start with washing vegetables and drying them (preschool), continue with cutting (4th grade and up), and work on up to sautéing (junior high). Heck, by the time the kids are in highschool, not only are they helping you cook, they’re probably slimmer and healthier than their couch potato peers.  Not to mention the quality time spent together creating dishes.

Now let’s look at what ingredients you should to buy…

What to do at the supermarket:

As a rule, the less processed a food, the cheaper it is. Which means you should buy more fruits and veggies (even frozen or canned), bulk grains such as rice, and lean unprepared meats. Basic unsweetened dairy products such as yogurts are cheaper than the fruit flavored sugar laden kind. Adding a teaspoon of honey or a few chopped strawberries and spoonful of sugar is still going to be cheaper, not to mention healthier.

Most of what you’ll need is the in the perimeter of the store.

Here are some more suggestions in Fooducate’s Top Ten Tips for Nutritious Shopping in a Recession.

Good luck and bon apetit.

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Americans consume 31 BILLION lbs. of oil a year.

That’s about 100 lbs. per man woman and child, or half a cup of oil every day.

And almost half of the oil we consume is hydrogenated to degree, meaning it contains trans-fat.

But there is hope, according to a recent article in USA Today:

What may be the next big thing in the quest for the perfect low-fat french fry will sprout from Iowa ground this summer.

Pioneer Hi-Bred says its genetically engineered soybean will make an oil that has no artery-clogging trans fats. The high-oleic oil is supposed to last three to five times longer in commercial fryers than most zero-trans-fat oils.

The Johnson, Iowa-based company, the second-largest producer of hybrid seeds for agriculture, will put the soybean through tests to determine whether those claims are true. If so, then McDonald’s, Frito-Lay and other companies may snap up the oil and promote heart-healthy fried foods and chips.

Read more…

What you need to know:

There is a lot of controversy around genetically modified foods, which we won’t get into in this post. Creating an oil that won’t become trans-fat when hydrogenated sounds interesting, but it will probably take years to prove it is safe and does the job. In the meantime, a few things to know:

Trans fat is found in shortenings, margarine, snacks such as crackers, candies, and cookies, fried foods, pastries and other foods prepared with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils

Trans fat labeling on food packages has been mandatory since 2006. But, if a serving has less than o.5 grams of trans-fat, the label may state ZERO. Yes, that includes 0.49 grams in a serving size even a 2 year old would find ridiculously too small. This is a loophole being exploited by some food manufacturers.

What to do at the supermarket:

Try to reduce to zero your trans-fat consumption by examining food labels carefully. If the nutrition panel says 0 trans-fat, it’s a good start, but always take a look at the ingredient list to spot partially hydrogenated oils.

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The Grocery Manufacturer’s Organization (GMA), an advocacy group representing food and beverage manufacturers, periodically publishes science policy papers as “a guide for consumers, policymakers, and the media”. In a recent publication entitled Sodium and Salt [download PDF], the GMA tackles a sensitive topic for consumers and manufacturers.

One of the interesting findings in this 22 page report, is a list of the top 20 individual food sources of sodium in our diets, based on the combination of frequency of consumption and sodium content itself:

1. Meat Pizza
2. White Bread
3. Processed Cheese
4. Hot Dogs
5. Spaghetti w/sauce Read more…