Why Air Fryer Cause Cancer?

An air fryer is comparatively a new device that is marketed to be one of the healthiest ways to cook food. Compared to the regular cooking mechanism, air fryers allow you to prepare food like deep frying by utilizing hot air. This unique mechanism allows the air fryer to cook your food without requiring oil which helps the food to come out healthier. But can an air fryer cause cancer?

Although a new appliance, the air fryer has already become a popular way of cooking. Recently you may notice some discussions online relating cancer to air fryers. In the below part of the article, we will let you why air fryers can cause cancer.

Why does Air Fryer Cause Cancer?

Air fryers are designed to cook food like the deep fryer without using any oil. That is because deep-fried food arrives with a lot of health risks. The air fryer can sometimes require oil but it will be around a tablespoon while your deep fryer requires cups of oil. For such reasons, air-fried food contains less fat compared to the other ways of cooking. Especially, the bad fat the food got while being cooked.

But the issue is air fryer cannot guarantee you 100% healthiness. The device can cook your food in high heat and this can produce some variation of the chemicals that might not be healthy for you. Some of the chemicals can even cause cancer. However, the good news is air fryer is comparatively less unhealthy compared to the deep fryer, usual pan, and grease method.

When Can Air Fryer Cause Cancer?

As we said above, there are some variations of the chemical that can get produced while cooking the food. These chemicals care about the things that can cause cancer. In general, cancer has nothing to do with the air fryer. One of such chemicals is acrylamide. It occurs while you are cooking some variation of the food in the high heat. It doesn’t matter, whether you are baking, roasting, or frying the food, this chemical can occur if the heat is high.

As per scientific studies, acrylamide can cause cancer in animals when the thing is consumed in a high dose. It becomes a health concern for the human after JECFA announced it at 2010. The acrylamide usually occurs while you cook some specific variation of the food in the high heat. One such food is the potato. That means the potato dishes like potato chips, French fries, etc. may contain acrylamide. Sometimes other varieties of foods like roasted nuts, toasts, canned asparagus, sweet potatoes, etc. can also contain acrylamide.

Now if you prepare the potatoes in the air fryer at high heat, it can increase the chance of acrylamide which is one of the main reasons for cancer. The statement is also true from your oven, grill, and stovetop. The ideal temperature that can occur this is 338 F while the air fryer can produce up to 400 F. So, yes, the long-term cooking of the potato in high-heat can produce acrylamide which can cause cancer in the long run.

What You Can do To Prevent Acrylamide?

As we said above, acrylamide can be produced while cooking some specific dishes like potatoes, asparagus, sweet potatoes, etc. at a high temperature. What you need to do is to be very careful while cooking these foods in the air fryer. First of all, you need to make sure that you are cooking the food in low heat. With low heat, you need to keep the temperature below 338 F. Thanks to the temperature control function of the air fryer which allows you to do this easily.

Apart from cooking the food at a low temperature, you should also limit the cooking duration. That is because overcooking may also produce cancer-causing chemicals. Instead of making your French fires and other related dishes golden brown in color, you should take them off when they are golden yellow. Another thing you should do is to soak the raw potatoes in the water for around 15 to 30 minutes before cooing.

This will help to remove some of the sugar that can cause the problem. While preparing the toast in the air fryer, toast them to the lightest color possible instead of the deep brown color. Note that acrylamide is not the only thing that can cause cancer. There are some other chemicals that get produced from reheated oil and high heat. You need to be careful about reheating food that contains oil from previous cooking.

FAQs

Why do air fryers have Prop 65 warning?

Some of the air fryers include the prop 65 warning because of the acrylamide which produces while cooking some variation of the foods in high heat. Products that may produce or expose the user to the acrylamide must include the prop 65 warning in the California.

What is the disadvantage of an air fryer?

Compared to the advantages of the air fryer, there are not many disadvantages. One of the issues about the air fryer is it cannot cook a lot of food at once. As a result, you will require cooking the foods in smaller batches which takes a long time. Another issue about the air fryer is it can produce high heat which may burn your foods sometimes.

How do I prevent acrylamide in my air fryer?

Follow the above instructions we have discussed above. You need to cook food at a low temperature, process the potatoes properly before cooking, and you need to limit the cooking duration.

Is Air Fryer food healthy?

Yes, air-fried foods are healthy in most cases. However, you need to cook them in the correct procedure and keep the inside of the air fryer clean and hygienic to prevent unhealthiness.

Conclusion

Although it is not impossible for your air fryer to cause cancer, the chances are very low. However, you should still be careful while cooking the food in the device. Especially, follow the instructions in the above and the user manual of the air fryer to prevent any issues.