It is believed that fried foods are much more harmful than those that undergo any other heat treatment. This is partly true, but many other factors must be taken into account.
The main causes of the harmful effects of fried
First of all, most of the studies that are conducted in order to study the effects of fried foods on the human body, consider people who initially have problems with being overweight, with eating behavior. Usually, in such cases, examples of the consumption of "fast food", various foods in restaurants, and so on are analyzed.
That is, this food is not cooked in the best way. And people who consume these foodservice products, as a rule, do not care too much about their health. On the background of obesity, problems with the cardiovascular system, their mortality increases.
It follows that they consume high-calorie foods with low-quality heat treatment. And the high calorie content of fried food appears due to the absorption of a large amount of poured oil by the cooking object. In cafes "public catering" you can often find a careless attitude to cooking: the oil used very rarely changes, and cooking takes place on the same fat, which later turns into trans fat.
Also, when frying, you have to increase the cooking temperature. If a conventional piece of meat is heat treated in hot water, then a uniform increase in temperature will occur in it and the center of this piece will reach the final cooking point rather quickly. In the case of frying, one half of this meat will interact with air, and the other will heat up.
And in order to reach the final stage of cooking, you will have to significantly increase the temperature of the pan, which will lead to a large number of negative consequences, including the appearance of trans fats and the formation of the so-called "golden crust".
Trans fats are a very harmful stage in the heat treatment of ordinary fat, which, when digested in the gastrointestinal tract, is used to build human cells, but has practically no useful properties in itself and, moreover, contributes to the appearance of many health problems. Due to their regular consumption, blood clots can begin to form in a person, and problems with the cardiovascular system often appear.
Ways to reduce the harmful effects of fried food
If you do decide to fry something, try to use refined oils, as their smoke points are higher compared to unrefined oils. Cooking in such oil will save the prepared product from excessive thermal heating.
One of the best ways to “fry” something is to cook it in the oven, provided that the natural fat of the meat piece will drip down onto the pan. When frying in a pan, this meat undergoes thermal processing for a long time in its own fat, as well as in vegetable fat, which ultimately may well lead to the formation of trans fats.
To summarize, there are many drawbacks to this method of cooking, such as frying, and you should avoid it if possible. Use ovens, various modern baking appliances to avoid the harmful effects of high temperatures in conjunction with the oxidation of oils.
