Can Crunchy Potatoes and Toast Actually Kill You?

Can Crunchy Potatoes and Toast Actually Kill You?

New recommendations out of the UK recommend eating less browned toast and crunchy, roasted potatoes. Both foods can cause cancer, some experts say.

The news is out. With all the alternative facts swirling about though, it can be hard to tell what’s what.

So, what about the statement that browned toast and delicious, crunchy edges on your fried potatoes can give you cancer? Yes, or no?

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It depends. Research has shown that eating acrylamide, a toxic chemical produced when you brown or burn starchy foods, increases the risk of cancer in animals. Acrylamide is toxic to animal DNA and causes tumors.

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A report on BBC.com states that the possible effects of eating too-brown toast can be dire. Those who eat it (and also crunchy potatoes) could experience an “increased lifetime risk of cancer and effects on the nervous and reproductive systems”.

Yikes. Is there any good news? Yes.  There is apparently no conclusive evidence that the same thing happens in humans. In fact, some experts aren’t convinced that crunchy potatoes really do pose any real threat to the public.

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The BBC quotes David Spiegelhalter, a professor for the public understanding of risk at Cambridge University, as saying,

“Even adults with the highest consumption of acrylamide would need to consume 160 times as much to reach a level that might cause increased tumors in mice.”

Tobacco Smoke

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Since a good number of people still succumb to cancer world wide from of exposure to tobacco smoke and other deadly chemicals, it seems like putting the spotlight on tanned toast might be a bit hasty.

Focusing on eliminating smoking from the public’s habits and reducing the use of cancer-causing industrial chemicals in the workplace is still needed.

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It’s true that your potato chips and roasted Thanksgiving vegetables could be slightly evil. They could be accumulating toxins in your body.

If you’re concerned, check out the UK’s new campaign and see what you think.

So far, no warning bells are going off in the U.S over this matter, but at the moment we’ve got more than burnt toast on our plate. Stay tuned.

Photo credit: Tem404/Shutterstock

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