What's in chip?

A TV ad on BBC showed five litre bottles full of oil. This represented the amount of oil consumed per kid per year just from eating chips. This was presented as a health hazard. Could you explain?

Chips are soaking in oil. You can set fire to McDonald’s chips with a match. They burn quite well, sizzling and popping and emitting a foul black smoke.

How is this possible? Potatoes are mostly water, about 75%. Raw chips can’t burn. Deep frying at 250 C – far beyond boiling water at 100 C – blasts water out as steam. Chips are the same size before and after deep frying. This means that as water moves out, oil moves in.

This makes sense. Plant oils, as fats, are inflammable. Biodiesel, a substitute for diesel, is made from raw plant oil and from oil recycled after deep frying.

(I tried to burn chips from a Clifden pub. They wouldn’t burn. They are fatter, are watery in the centre, and probably underwent less intensive processing.)

What’s wrong with the deep fried oil in chips?

The problem is the quality. The vegetable or seed oils used for deep frying are, in their natural state, mostly PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids). Healthy PUFAs are found within whole seeds, nuts, grains and vegetables. PUFAs include EFAs (essential fatty acids) which must be obtained from the diet. The problem is that PUFAs are extremely sensitive to heat, air and light. Commercial extraction is highly damaging, transforming PUFAs into a variety of toxic forms: trans-, oxidized, homocyclic, polycyclic, fragmented, dimerized, polymerized. Deep frying continues these transformations. The oils within nuts or vegetables, or carefully extracted, are totally different from the same oils industrially extracted, highly processed, or exposed to extreme heat

There are no safe edible oils for deep frying. None. You could use motor oil - it will tolerate the temperature of deep frying. But it is inedible.

How do toxic oils in chips affect health?

These oils deplete body reserves of EFAs. Consumption of deep fried food can lead to EFA deficiency. A diet rich in toxic oils, coupled with EFA deficiency, affects the nerves, the walls of all cells, the inflammatory process, various hormones, circulation and other bodily functions.

These oils contributes to heart disease, high cholesterol and LDL, low HDL, low birth weight, obesity, ADHD, diabetes, cancer, etc. Heart disease in the West now accounts for a third of all deaths. Yet it was uncommon in 1900. The industrialized extraction and use of cheap plant oils in food began in the early 20th century and is now a major component of the modern diet.

The big picture is that the modern food industry uses the cheapest plant oils, largely transformed into toxic forms by intensive extraction, for the manufacture of processed foods. The annual consumption of 5 litres of oil from eating chips alone is the tip of the iceberg.

Chips have other problems. The crispy surface, mainly caramelized sugar from the potato’s own sugars, contains acrylamide, a proven carcinogen. There may be synthetic colorizing and additives, beef tallow, and added sugar. There may be far too much commercial salt.

If you enjoy chips, make them at home. Here is a great recipe. Boil the potatoes. Slice and fry with a little oil. Use low temperatures, not much above 100 C – this won’t affect the oil much. Use extra virgin olive oil - it is heat resistant. Add spices, onions, etc, to taste. This is a tasty Dutch recipe and it is safe.

You could enjoy a campfire with McDonald chips. Buy an extra large. Burn half to warm up, avoid the smoke, and eat the rest. What a wonderful way to entertain your friends! Now that would be a great ad…