Can You Be "French Fried" To Death?

The potato does have a certain amount of nutritional value. Potatoes have more potassium than bananas. They are also a good source of vitamin C and B-6. Potatoes are also sodium and fat free. Potatoes also have a dark side. They are high in carbohydrates. A medium potato has 37 grams of carbohydrates.

You might have heard of the term "net carbs". Net carbs are the grams of carbohydrates minus the grams of fiber that are in a particular food.

A good recommendation is to try to keep your net carbs under 80 grams per day. Depending upon your metabolism and if you are a diabetic or pre-diabetic that number could be much lower.

This means a single potato can be about half or even more of your daily net carb allotment!

The consumption of fresh potatoes has declined in the past 50 years, dropping from 61 pounds per year per person in 1970 to 36 pounds per year per person in 2008. However, the consumption of processed potatoes, such as French fries or potato chips, has skyrocketed during that same time period. By 2014, Americans were eating an average of 78 pounds of processed potatoes a year.

Processed potatoes cooked at high heat contain byproducts that are actually carcinogenic, besides containing trans fats.

Recent research has now found a potential link between fried potato consumption and an increased risk of premature death. Researchers have found that those who eat fried potatoes two or more times each week, may double their risk of death from all causes.

The study correlated French fry and potato chip consumption with an increased risk of death, but the researchers could not assume that the French fries actually caused the deaths. The researchers tried to control variables, but as this was an observational study.

Many other factors may have been involved could have been missed. For example, those who ate more French fries and chips may also eat much more sugar and exercise less. They may also be overweight from eating all of those fried foods. Being overweight also increases the chances of death from all causes, except one, which is starvation.

The major danger of eating fried foods is a carcinogenic chemical called acrylamide, which is produced when the starchy potato is fried at high temperatures.

Acrylamide, a byproduct of frying and is probably the most hazardous ingredients found in potato chips, hash browns and French fries. The browning process is what produces the chemical, so boiling and steaming doesn't create acrylamide. Baking a potato however does produce some acrylamide.

The bottom line here is that you are better off avoiding fried foods for a number of potential reasons.

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