Dangers of Eating Fried Foods and How to work around this

Fried foods can be found from main dishes to snacks. The savory and crunchy taste of fried foods can sometimes make the audience forget themselves, even though there is a risk behind these foods. Fried foods tend to contain a lot of fat, calories and salt. Because the process of food frying can change the quality of nutrients and increase calorie content. Moreover, if the oil used for frying has been used repeatedly so that it contains trans fat.

What Risks Are Arising?

Eating large portions of fried foods is often associated with the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity. A research also says, the more you eat fried foods, the risk of developing diabetes 2 and heart disease tends to increase more. In men, a study states that consumption of fried foods in the long term that is more than once a week, can increase the risk of prostate cancer for men. Eating too many fried foods is also often associated with high cholesterol. The higher the cholesterol level, the higher the risk of heart disease and blood vessel disease. When you consume more than your body needs, cholesterol can cause plaque to form, which can block the flow of blood vessels, as well as blocked tubes. Complications from interrupted blood flow are stroke, atherosclerosis and heart attack.

Especially for Pregnant Women

Especially for pregnant women, excessive consumption of fried foods has its own risks. Based on research, the habit of consuming fried foods before pregnancy is suspected to increase the risk of diabetes during pregnancy. Diabetes that occurs during pregnancy is called gestational diabetes. Compared with women who consumed fried foods less than once per week before pregnancy, the risk for developing gestational diabetes was 13 percent higher specifically for those who consumed fried foods three times per week. The risk increases with the amount of fried food consumed per week.

Efforts to Reduce the Risk of Fried Consumption

To reduce the risk of bad consumption of fried foods, the best way to do this is to replace trans oil or hydrogenated oils with healthier types of oil such as olive oil, canola, corn, sunflower seeds and sesame oil. So that the oil does not absorb into the fried food, it is advisable to fry the food at a temperature of 176-1900C. If the frying temperature is below that temperature, oil can seep into food. Conversely, if the temperature is too high, food will become too dry and oil can also oxidize. Another way to minimize the process of frying food is to bake the food in the oven. Before grilling meat, apply olive oil, so the meat will become more crispy when consumed. In addition, you can also cook food with water fryer. No less important in minimizing the adverse effects of fried foods is to avoid the use of oil repeatedly. Preferably, oil is only used once in frying. So that fried foods are not too greasy, it is also advisable to use paper towels so that excess oil can be absorbed. If you want to eat fried foods, you should make your own at home, rather than buying it. Fried foods made at home tend to be healthier because you can wisely choose oil and how to fry it.