The Potential Link Between Air Fryers And Cancer You Should Know About

Air fryers have been revolutionizing how we cook our food — just pop some sliced potatoes in for about 10 to 20 minutes, and you have yourself some delicious french fries. Indeed, air fryers have expedited the time needed to get food delectably crispy while also minimizing the clean-up process. So what's not to love?

Recent tests on air fryers in Hong Kong found that there were cancer-producing chemicals in certain models. According to The Standard, french fries cooked in these machines contain acrylamide, which can be harmful to humans if consumed in large quantities. Some french fries contain as much as 7038 mg/kg, which is significantly above the European Union benchmark of 500 mg/kg. And if you know anything about chemistry or food science, this fact actually may surprise you. According to Medical News Today, air frying is supposed to lower the risk of acrylamide formation compared to other cooking methods. One study actually found that air frying reduced acrylamide by 90% compared to deep frying (via Healthline).

Now, are you thinking about throwing out your air fryer for good? You might want to hold that thought. Verywell Health notes that cooking starchy food like potatoes at high temperatures will cause a reaction that will form acrylamide — regardless of whether you're using a deep fryer or air fryer. Therefore, there will always be a risk of ingesting this chemical when you're craving some french fries no matter what. However, with foods such as chicken, acrylamide levels were greatly reduced compared to traditional frying methods. And we know about the multitude of benefits that air fryers have — they make all corners of a piece of food taste extra crispy, with only a minimal amount of oil.

One extra measure of caution to take is to thoroughly check the air fryer model you're getting. Per The Standard, Consumer Council states that among the 12 models that were tested, the lowest producing machine produced 102 mg/kg. Therefore, it is possible to continue enjoying air-fried food — you just need to conduct some of your own personal research first.