Is Air Fried Food Really Healthier? | Talking Point | Full Episode

We can't seem to get enough of sizzling, crispy

fried

food

s despite knowing they're incredibly unhealthy, but since 2010 there's a revolution that's been heating up kitchens around the world. Air fryer manufacturers promise us great-tasting

food

with minimal fat. Some even claim to have up to 90 percent less fat because there is no need to use oil, so now I can eat my

fried

food without the guilt. We have accepted this statement to such an extent that airfryer sales of a leading brand in Singapore. have grown by 50 percent between 2019 and 2020 alone globally, the air fryer market size is expected to reach 1.2 billion US dollars by 2026.

In this

episode

, I am going to investigate how revolutionary air frying

really

is. and how much

healthier

it is. my air fried food, I think I first have to understand the technology behind it. I'm going to meet someone who can help me. Food scientist Joe Wei Biao has a keen interest in food engineering and processing. This includes air frying, basically air frying. is creating a very hot hair and this hot air circulates around the food and cooks the food, so this is in contrast to what we are familiar with, which is deeper frying, deeper frying is using hot oil as a liquid to heat a food in Airfryer, the hot air will quickly cook the surface layer of quickly drying foods and that is where the crispiness is created on the surface of a food, but how is that different from grilling or baking in a oven?

There is a similarity between air frying and baking. oven because everything creates hot air, the difference is that although the home oven can also provide you with that temperature, it does not provide the circulation that is required for air frying. This is a typical airfryer the size of a fan inside the airfryer which is very similar to the size of the fan inside a baking oven, if you compare it to a typical baking oven here you will notice that this heating element is probably even more powerful than the heating element of the airfryer, however, the size of the fan on the back is very similar size, so the fan is a little bigger than this fan, but from what I understand, the oven has You have to cook a much larger surface area of ​​food compared to the air fryer, which is much more condensed, that's true, the air fryer has a very high temperature.

The speed of circulation, but the oven is not that much, therefore it does not give you the effect of frying in a typical oven, so the air fryer can give the same texture and flavor as fried foods if you add a little bit of oil. actually brings some difference, it will bring the food closer to air frying to deeper frying when we greatly reduce the amount of oil when air frying, we are reducing the amount of calories, right, yes, it's quite simple, right, reduce oil therefore reduce our calorie intake but I want to know how much

healthier

air frying is compared to deep frying.

I have care

full

y selected three different types of food and each food will be air fried and first fried chicken, the most common food we fry. second selar kuni, the fish we normally eat with our nasi lemak and our favorite processed chips. I'm making them from scratch because processed potato chips are already high in calories. I send all fried foods to this lab that specializes in food safety. nutritional and contaminant testing the test parameter is total fat fatty acid healing fat unstructured fat trans fats and cholesterol so for potatoes you will also test for aquarium mice right yes that's right acrylamide why Am I testing so well?

It's because acrylamide is a chemical that can form in starchy foods during high-temperature cooking processes. Several reports have suggested that the presence of acrylamide in foods has the potential to cause cancer. In February, tests by the Hong Kong Consumer Council found acrylamide in air-fried French fries in several models of air fryers, with some samples having higher levels of acrylamide than the EU benchmark. I find the consumer watchdog report

really

worrying, but the

point

is that acrylamide forms when certain types of starchy foods, such as potatoes and bread, are cooked at very high temperatures, not just air frying. .

I'm hoping my lab test results will show me if there is a difference in acrylamide levels between fried and air fried French fries, as I'm about to find out the results are shocking, shouldn't I be worried about that? a week ago? I sent samples of air fried and fried foods to an international laboratory. I want to know how healthy air fried foods really are compared to their fried versions after more than a week I received the results carolyn stephen is a nutritionist at the food resource and innovation center she provides consulting services to manufacturers on science technology food and scavenger innovation, can you help me better understand these results?

Yeah, right, now we have two samples here, we have the fried chicken and the fried chicken here, and if you look at the fat composition, the saturated fat content has a reduction of about 38 in the air fried version, which which is pretty good because we know how saturated fat can increase the risk of heart disease and what's interesting here is that the trans fatty acid content has been reduced by 55 percent in the airfry version, so that's a positive result, so which 55 is actually very good and we know that trans fats are even worse than saturated fats because they raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol in the blood and worsen the risk of heart disease, so these are good results to see , so moving on to cholesterol, there is also a reduction of about 25 and cholesterol again is not that good for heart health, so there is a big importance in breaking down fats and cholesterol, yes, you can.

Let's say okay, similarly, when we look at air fried fish versus fried fish, we can see that the saturated fatty acids have been reduced by about 53 percent. Interestingly, there isn't much significant difference in trans fat content, perhaps because it's already there to begin with. With the fish it didn't have many trans fatty acids, yes, moving on to cholesterol you don't see a big difference. Why isn't there a big difference in cholesterol? It really depends on the type of meat you are dealing with. We know that fish is naturally healthier and now for our air fried fries, so if we look at the saturated fatty acids, there's about a 53 percent reduction in the air fried version compared to the deep fried version, no If we see any difference in trans fatty acids it is probably because they are already quite low in the fresh potatoes you used to begin with, potatoes have no cholesterol because it is a plant-based food, so when it comes to trans fats , air frying helped reduce them by 55 in My most significant chicken samples were the saturated fat results, which saw a reduction between 38 and 53 in all my samples.

Finally, what I'm most curious about are the acrylamide levels, so it says here that the chips contain less than 10 micrograms per kg and air. French fries contain 1400 micrograms per kg, that's a huge increase over fried foods, so shouldn't I be worried about that? Yes, I definitely understand if it raises any concerns, but there is no benchmark or cutoff

point

to say what is safe. and what is not certain, in fact, who has acknowledged the fact that evidence is lacking in the area of ​​human studies? Many studies that have been done in the acrylamide era have been based on laboratory animals, and if you look at the Singapore regulations.

We also don't have a reference point, so while the jury is still out on whether we should be concerned about acrylamide levels in our foods, I'm still curious as to why there was such a large increase in air fries compared to fried ones. In the background, I will take the results of my lab report to Nicholas Lee, who has been overseeing the overall strategy of a leading brand of airfryer and other home appliances in Asia Pacific, so why is there such a big difference in the levels of acrylamide between air fried and fried potatoes, so there may be three factors that influence the level of acrylamide in fresh potatoes: cooking time, cooking temperature and also preparation.

Would you mind telling me what temperature you cooked the potatoes at? I fried them in the air. 200 degrees for 14 minutes and I fried them on medium to high heat for eight minutes, so our recommendation is to cook at 180 degrees or a little less and if you are cooking fresh potatoes 160 for the first part and then 180 for the second part. and that will reduce the amount of acrylamide that is formed, so my fries contained higher levels of acrylamide because I cooked them for too long and at too high a temperature, air frying takes a little longer, but we have some new models , we have the smart one. chef, which will actually calculate the time and temperature for you, so you'll avoid issues like overcooking or cooking too high, but not everyone would want to spend the money on buying newer models, so if I'm still worried about the acrylamide in my food, how can I ensure the levels stay low if you soak the potatoes before cooking, that will remove a lot of the starch and that's where the sugar content is which then influences the formation of acrylamide, it actually makes the French fries taste better and then There is also a lower acrylamide component and if you store the potatoes in the refrigerator at too low a temperature, the sugar content will increase and then the amount of acrylamide will increase.

Is there anything I can observe in the foods I aerate? absolutely fry, I mean that golden brown texture you're looking for and beautiful home fries, if they're overly browned then that's a good sign that there's too much acrylamide forming in that crust, so stick with the golden brown color again, the acrylamide is natural. in food has been there since time immemorial and will be there in the future too. It is simply a matter of how to reduce it through those cooking techniques, since acrylamide levels in air fried foods can be controlled and air fried foods are healthier than fried foods.

I can try replacing frying with air frying at home, but when I go out to eat I don't have many options, although there are more than 6,000 cooked food stalls in more than 100 hawker centers in Singapore and there are almost 50 in this center alone. hawkers in particular, but none of them are using the healthier option of air frying, according to an online survey conducted by Nielsen in 2017. 74 Singapore respondents are willing to pay more for foods that promote health benefits , so I'm determined to find a position. who will sell air fried food and find out if it is possible to incorporate air frying into the daily operations of a street vendor today the fat bomb has a one hour special lung three healthier air fried food options I want to know why the street vendors do not offer us the healthiest option of air frying instead of deep frying I couldn't find any industrial size air fryers but I got three air fryers with the largest capacity I could find in Singapore and I am collaborating with kong chi chu who manages the kitchen central and all 20 of Batty Bomb bomb Western food stalls, so I'm really excited for you to use them.

Yes, I need to check first. Well, despite the stall's name, he's interested in offering his customers healthier options and agreed to experiment with all three fryers. That's a bake, I need to try some space in my store because it's limited space. Chew will offer customers air fried options for three sides on their menu, Cooking Rings, Cooking Wings and Grilled Wing Steak, what does it take? for street vendors to make the switch from frying to air frying to help with chewing. I recruited Arena Chung. She was previously employed by a leading air fryer brand. Hello rina, to create recipes suitable for airfryer.

Can all the fried food from street vendors be replaced with air frying? Because specially battered foods will actually create a mess in the airfryer, for example like Indian red or banana fritters, they do not work well in the airfryer and there is no oil element in the airfryer to set the batter, So what kind of hot crystals do you think will do it? It's easier for me to make the change. I think that Western stars who mainly use frozen pre-fried foods will be suitable for the change, for example, if they cook French fries in the airfryer, inIt will actually also help drain the oil. works for shops that don't totally rely on frying, for example nasi lemak sauce.

In fact, they can air fry their chicken wings and fish their wonton noodles. In fact, you can pre-cook the fried ones once before and you can reheat them using the deep fryer. Right, why don't you show Arena what foods you're working with today? Yeah, yeah, okay, it's the chicken wing. Okay, this one works perfectly fine in the air fryer and here are the other two items. It's good that we can throw them away. a little oil on the onion ring so that it really has the oil fried effect try to make sure that the onion ring is evenly covered with the oil try not to cut the basket so that the air can flow evenly because the onion ring onion is generally between five to eight minutes at 180 degrees, so for this amount we will try five minutes, see if it works.

Has a special one-hour lunch. Three healthier air fried food options. We have grilled wing sticks, Cajun rings and Cajun wings. He would like? try someone, hello lady sophisticated, these are cajun cajun wings and it took a little convincing but I finally got diners to order the air fried options, which one would you like one night? It's crispy, yes, and I think the meat is good. Do you like having a healthier option on the menu? Yes, I like the healthier option. You ate the Cajun rings. How did you find them? It's not greasy at all. It's good to know that it is a good alternative.

I think if you fry it. It will taste a little better because it will be juicier but also because if you air fry it it will be a little drier because in general I don't really like oily things so if there is a fighter option I wouldn't mind choosing it, it has a Almost similar flavor, so would you still be a regular at this stall if they did? I only offered air fried food, yes, I would love to because, seriously, pigs, right, we don't know how many times they recycle their oil personally, I would, yes, but, on the other hand, for the public, half of them, I know they would still prefer oily stuff but then they have options and overall most customers were pretty happy with the air fried options and would love for them to be a permanent item on the menu so I want to know how sustainable it will be for a company to change deep food. fry to air fry so how did you find today's challenge?

Today is quite good because these few items are just a light dish. It takes about 10 minutes for an order. Do you think it's possible to one day switch to air fried foods? completely, I think not, this is a big challenge, customers usually don't want to wait too long when they have lunch break, it is slow, but the inside of the pot is too small, so in the future, if manufacturers come up with deep fryers commercial or industrial size air filter as really large, would you consider using it? Yes, because you can cook many orders and then it is healthier.

So how much healthier are air fried foods than frying them? Well, my test results show that air frying effectively reduces saturated fat and trans fat levels by more. 50 in some foods like fried chicken and when it comes to acrylamide levels, I have learned that I should watch how long I fry my foods and not overcook them, but while it is easy and convenient to fry them at home, fried options air frying when I eat out are a challenge, so for now I guess I'll just have to air fry at home when I'm craving something fried.