Your favorite snack, potato chips, may be harming your body. Recently, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare detected high concentrations of acrylamide in potato chips. Previously, the Swedish government also discovered that foods rich in carbohydrates, when processed through methods like roasting or frying, generate acrylamide, which is carcinogenic. Countries like the UK, France, and the USA, where fried potato products are a common snack, have all conducted tests and reached the same conclusion.
In the International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) 5-level classification of carcinogens, acrylamide is listed in Group 2, indicating a high level of carcinogenicity. The most dangerous is Group 1, which includes confirmed carcinogens, followed by Groups 2A and 2B, which have a higher probability of being carcinogenic. Group 1 substances include coal tar, asbestos, chewing tobacco, and cadmium; Group 2A substances include acrylamide, creosote used as a wood preservative, and exhaust fumes from automobiles. The acrylamide in potato chips is a toxic substance equivalent in its harm to the human body as car exhaust fumes. In other words, eating potato chips is like inhaling car exhaust.
Additionally, potato chips contain high levels of aluminum, and long-term consumption can lead to nervous system disorders, manifesting as memory loss and impaired visual and motor coordination.