As people's self-awareness for health protection continues to grow, they are paying increasing attention to their physical well-being. When buying cooking oil, they choose "non-GMO" options. When selecting vegetables, they opt for fresh seasonal produce over greenhouse-grown ones. Even when buying snacks, they prefer "non-fried" foods. This raises the question: do "non-fried" foods truly contain no oil?
1. Fried Foods
Frying is a process that uses hot oil to cook food. Fried foods are characterized by their high oil content, low moisture content, and better texture. However, the oil used for frying may have been reused multiple times. When cooking oil is repeatedly used or exposed to high temperatures for extended periods, it undergoes a series of physical and chemical changes. This not only diminishes the nutritional value of the food but can also produce toxic substances that accumulate in the body and harm human health.
2. "Non-fried" Foods
"Non-fried" foods, also known as products made by spraying oil and hot-air drying, operate on a principle similar to baking (for instance, "non-fried" instant noodles can be directly dried with hot air). From a nutritional perspective, they lose fewer nutrients, contain significantly fewer calories, have less oil, and more moisture compared to fried foods. Additionally, their acrylamide content is much lower. From a safety standpoint, the oil used in non-fried foods is used only once, making them relatively safer than fried foods where oil is frequently reused.
However, "non-fried" foods are not oil-free; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to achieve their characteristic fluffy and crispy textures. Therefore, a certain amount of oil is still added to purely caloric foods and puffed snacks.
Take potato chips as an example. Regular potato chips are fried, while non-fried varieties are coated with oil and then baked to ensure their signature crispy and savory texture; otherwise, they would become dry, hard, and difficult to swallow. However, the baking temperature often exceeds 200°C, which can be even higher than the temperature used for frying. When the roasting temperature surpasses 140°C, acrylamide is also produced. Therefore, while fried foods are unhealthy, "non-fried" alternatives are not necessarily a healthier choice.
By now, you should understand that the term "non-fried" is only relative to fried foods, indicating that the manufacturing process avoids high-temperature oil cooking. In reality, these foods still contain oil, so we should still be mindful of our consumption.