One of the most common potato products is crisps. This product is often called a favorite treat by both adults and children. Most people have heard that such a snack is not recommended by nutritionists, but few know how significant the harm of chips is. Perhaps, having learned why chips are harmful, many gourmets would change their attitude towards this product.

Chips have long enjoyed a dubious reputation, but the demand for this product is consistently high. The appetizer itself does not have any special taste, therefore it was the taste of fat with the addition of dyes and enhancers that conquered gourmets. According to scientists, the reason for all the property of chips to cause addiction is akin to narcotic.

What is the harm from chips?

To understand how dangerous the harm of chips that affects the human body is, you need to analyze the composition of the product. This information is replete with unpleasant facts that may surprise. Chips contain the following ingredients.

• Crustacean substance

The product significantly exceeded the norm of acrylamide, which is released during frying potatoes and affects the body as a powerful carcinogen that provokes gene mutations and the development of malignant tumors.

• Hydrogenated fat

This fat makes up a third of the product and is deposited on the walls of blood vessels, causing:

1. atherosclerosis;
2. hypertension.

As a result of experiments on animals, the researchers established the fact of the existence of a "fat hangover": after eating chips:

1. memory deteriorates;
2. concentration of attention is lost;
3. the thought process slows down.

• Acrolein

At high temperatures, fats and glycerin form a poison that:

1. irritates the mucous membranes of the eyes, nasopharynx and bronchi;
2. promotes the development of tumors;
3. destroys DNA in blood, liver and kidneys

• Colorants, preservatives and flavorings. Because of them appear:

1. metabolic disorders;
2. inflammation of the intestines and pancreas (pancreatitis);
3. irritation of the stomach lining (gastritis);
4. unstable acidity of gastric juice;
5. allergy;
6. decreased immunity;
7. caries.

• Monosodium glutamate

It is a versatile flavor enhancer that, in large quantities:

1. inhibits the work of the brain;
2. destroys nerve cells;
3. leads to the appearance of gastric ulcer;
4. causes diabetes and migraines;
5. reduces vision;
6. enhances appetite;
7. dulls the sensitivity of taste buds, as a result of which food without glutamate seems too bland.

The main component is fried potatoes with flour - a high-calorie carbohydrate food that guarantees:

1. increased cholesterol and blood sugar;
2. increase in body weight.

Learning to minimize harm

If you can't skip the tempting crispy slices, eat them at least once a week after a meal. In the store, to choose the least harmful ready-made chips, carefully read the composition and buy the product without:

• aromatic mixtures and dyes;
• synthetic flavors: it is better to take chips with natural chili, sesame seeds, paprika;
• preservatives.

The slices should not be too large and even, which indicates that they were cooked with dry mashed potatoes with dough or genetically modified potatoes.

After making sure what harm shop chips bring, you can prepare this delicacy yourself - not only from potatoes, but also using pieces of vegetables or fruits. The dish should be cooked in the oven to prevent the formation of harmful substances during frying.

It doesn't take long to find articles on the dangers of this delicacy. It claims that they are almost entirely composed of "chemistry", boiled in "carcinogenic oil" and will certainly lead to obesity. However, such reasoning is often not justified and not entirely logical. Let's try to figure out how "harmful" chips are.

Composition

Modern chips are produced in large factories according to unified quality standards. For this, either chopped potatoes or natural potato flour is used, which retains its properties longer and is more convenient for further cooking.

Then additional ingredients are mixed there - the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate, flavoring and aromatic additives and spices. In modern conditions, all of them are recognized as safe, only their consumption rates can vary. In any case, let's look at the composition in more detail.

Monosodium glutamate

E621 additive is used to enrich the taste of various foods. The substance itself is natural, since it is formed in some types of cheeses and soy sauce. In industrial production, it is also obtained through natural fermentation. At the same time, the taste and chemical qualities of a natural and identical substance do not differ in any way.

Experiments on mice show that with a significant (much more natural) intake of MSG, disorders do occur. At the same time, severe health consequences arise in animals and with an excess of ordinary table salt. Human studies have found no relationship between monosodium glutamate and obesity, gastrointestinal diseases, asthma, and other illnesses or ailments.

Flavors, colorants, food additives

It is due to these ingredients that the chips acquire the taste and smell of onions, crabs, mushrooms and everything else. Flavors and food colors are now an integral part of almost every edible product. They are used in baked goods, ice cream, soda, some alcoholic beverages, yoghurts, glazed curds, sauces, sausages, and this is not the whole list. They change not only the color, taste and smell of the goods, but also the consistency and shelf life.

Compliance with all rules for the production of products makes the use of additives safe. Often, the use of such ingredients is even beneficial, for example, some sugar substitutes are several times sweeter than it, but they are not so high in calories.

When using any substance - in a medicine, in a drink, in a product, a lot depends on individual characteristics. In children, the elderly or simply sensitive people, food additives can cause allergies in various manifestations, so their consumption should be limited as much as possible, as is the case with all other allergens.

Frying chips

Some argue that frying in large amounts of vegetable oil makes chips highly carcinogenic. Overheating oil does indeed have the potential to make it a carcinogen, but we can do the same in a frying pan or with a long heating of meat in the oven. Moreover, people receive the same substances in much larger quantities with exhaust gases, cigarette smoke or when burning garbage. It turns out that the carcinogens potentially obtained from chips are a small part of all that our body receives on a daily basis.

What is the harm?

All deep-fried potato dishes are high in calories. The substances of which they are composed are easily absorbed in the process of entering the body and processing. You also need to take into account that it is very difficult for a person to tear himself away from a tasty, albeit not very useful product. As a result, chips can cause obesity if consumed excessively. However, the cause can be malnutrition in general, as well as a number of health problems, for example, hormonal imbalance.

By themselves, chips are no more harmful than sausage or processed cheese. There are official norms for the food additives they contain, which are calculated based on the average consumption of the product. And if a person voluntarily exceeds this value or simply overeats, it does not mean that this food itself is harmful. The body is badly affected not by a specific product, but by its thoughtless absorption.

When the first chips appeared in America in the fifties of the 19th century, their benefits or harms were not yet discussed. It was simply potatoes, thinly sliced \u200b\u200band fried in oil with spices, which subsequently gained immense popularity all over the world. But time passed, technologies changed. Chips were made from mashed potatoes, corn flour, to which starch, all kinds of flavors, additives and preservatives were added.

More and more enterprises began to take this popular product into production. We wanted to make technology cheaper, so everything was used, especially one that can improve the taste of any, even the worst food. Plus, it is addictive to people who consume it. So the composition and structure of the beloved product called chips changed. The benefits or harms of it have already become the subject of study by entire groups of scientists around the world.

The situation began to worsen by the fact that today, in the manufacture of chips, high-quality and pure oil is replaced by cheap one. In addition, it rarely changes during the preparation of the product (in order to save money). The result is the accumulation of carcinogens. This is another disadvantage of using such a beloved product as chips. Benefit or harm - if you weigh these indicators, then the scales are already clearly leaning towards harm. In addition, the acrylamides formed in the product when processed at high temperatures speak even more about the harmfulness of chips to the body.

But do not flatter yourself, thinking that having given up this product, you can eat the rest. The harm of chips is half the trouble. There are also crackers, no less favorite by hunters of using this product with beer, and besides, children crunch them with frightening consistency. All this should especially alert parents, because the health of children directly depends on what they eat.

The problem is, kids love croutons and chips. Benefit or harm for them is an abstract concept. For them, the main criterion is tasty. And manufacturers try to add as many additives as possible to these products that will ensure the desire to eat them again and again. These products are no less harmful for the female body. Scientists believe that those women who consume one pack of crackers a day risk getting cancer twice more than those who do not eat them at all.

Scientists have already begun to sound the alarm several years ago, having found out the harm of chips and crackers. In the modern version, they contain too much fat, salt, preservatives, leavening agents, flavors and other "useful" substances. There are no vitamins and other ingredients necessary for the body. Parents should explain to their children how these foods can undermine their health and try to replace all this with healthy foods.

But since a simple prohibition does not save the children from this chip addiction, one of the Dnipropetrovsk teachers went for an experiment. Tired of proving to her wards that they are ruining their health by consuming unmeasured quantities of these products, she did the following. I just put four cages with rats in the classroom. And she began to feed them in front of all the children with their favorite foods. Some - chips, the second - crackers, the third was added monosodium glutamate to the food, and the animals from the fourth cage were fed only healthy food. They were given cereals, fruits and vegetables.

As a result, children could clearly see what became of their wards. It seems that many of them, after the experiment, gave up both chips and crackers. What he saw for a long time stuck in the brain - cirrhosis of the liver, loss of hair, digestion and the death of animals. And although many adults did not share the "barbaric" methods of the Dnepropetrovsk teacher, the fact is obvious: the children seriously realized the harmfulness of these products and saw with their own eyes the results of their use.

Chips are flavored snacks that have become a very popular delicacy among young people. Despite the fact that many of us have heard about their dangers, not everyone will be able to resist and not eat a tasty, aromatic and crunchy slice. Potato snacks are good both on their own and as a snack for beer, although harm of chips to the human body not less.

For the first time potato slices were prepared in the 19th century by the American chef J. Crum, whose restaurant was visited by the railway tycoon Vanderbilt and ordered French fries for dinner. The cook served the potatoes in the form of the thinnest and even slightly transparent slices fried in hot oil. To Krum's surprise, Vanderbilt ate the new dish he had prepared and expressed no displeasure, and over time, the tycoon began mass production of crisp potatoes, packaged in portions in bags. Today chips have acquired universal proportions, every inhabitant of our planet could not help but hear about them, let alone try. They are sold everywhere: in small kiosks and in large grocery supermarkets. They are eaten as a quick snack, snack or instead of a main course. They are used to prepare salads, canapes, chicken breading, etc. But why does such a popular product also carry such harm and is unsafe for human health?

Let us briefly consider the features of the production of potato snacks on an industrial scale. Even at the beginning, they were made from potatoes: the tubers were cut into slices and fried in a special way. Therefore, there is an opinion that they cannot do harm, because potatoes are present in the diet of most people every day and no one has died from it yet. After all, what is the harm from fried potatoes? But this opinion is wrong!

Just recently, in the late 90s of the last century, chips began to be made from a complex culinary-chemical mixture, which consists of ordinary wheat or corn flour and modified soy starch and which is fried in boiling oil. That is why this product contains so many carcinogens and that is why it is so harmful.

After entering the body of potato snacks, the starch contained in their composition is converted into glucose and, if they are eaten regularly, then excess glucose will accumulate in the liver, which is guaranteed to lead to.

The taste of such a delicacy is far from potato. Therefore, manufacturers use various flavors and additives, chemical colors, artificial flavors and preservatives that extend the shelf life of such "goodies".

In addition, the chemical composition of the chips includes:

• monosodium glutamate, which is not famous for its nutritional value for the human body. With regular ingestion, it causes persistent addiction to the product and causes cell mutations;
• trans isomers of fatty acids - a dangerous additive that is harmful regardless of the amount consumed;
• acrylamide - a toxic substance that causes mutations;
• glycidamide is a chemical that causes cancer cells to grow and breaks down DNA.

How much salt is in them? It has the ability to retain water in the body, disrupts metabolic processes, inhibits normal bone growth and causes disturbances in the functioning of the organs of the cardiovascular system. And this is a direct path to obesity. Therefore, chips do not meet the requirements of the concept of a healthy diet, but their effect on the body and harm should be assessed soberly.

The harm of chips

Potato snacks and chips are considered the same fast food as hamburgers, cheeseburgers, nuggets and other fast food. Their negative effect on the body when consumed is caused, first of all, by the high content of calories and easily digestible carbohydrates in these food products. And when combined with sugary sodas or beer, they especially contribute to weight gain and even obesity.

Please note: For people who are overweight or obese, potato snacks are contraindicated altogether - every 100 g of the product contains more than 30 g of carcinogenic fats, which is harmful to humans.

If a person consumes chips and similar foods regularly and in large quantities, then he has:

• there is an excess of cholesterol and the formation of plaques in the vessels, which leads to blockage of blood vessels and the development of cardiovascular diseases;
• metabolism decreases;
• gastrointestinal diseases develop, heartburn, gastritis and bowel diseases appear;
• obesity begins;
• disrupted calcium metabolism in the body and the formation of bone tissue;
• cancerous tumors can form;
• immunity decreases;
• neoplasms appear on the skin in the form of poorly healing acne and boils;
• mental activity worsens;
• the reproductive functions of the body are reduced.

It is possible to avoid the occurrence of such dangerous consequences and reduce their harm, but only with a complete rejection of the use of this product or by reducing the frequency of their use to a minimum.

Are there any benefits to eating chips?

The only thing that can be cited as an argument about the benefits of this product is that the chips are delicious. If you occasionally indulge yourself with crunchy and melting in your mouth slices of "Lace" or "Pringles", it will help relieve stress from restriction and a little to calm the body. But this is only in the case of their minimal use - once a month and no more than 100 g! And then obesity will not keep you waiting! In addition, chips, along with other snacks and crackers, are suitable as a fairly satisfying snack, can quickly satisfy the feeling of hunger, are ready to eat and are easy to transport. Therefore, they are suitable for a quick organization of a party, a friendly get-together or a cozy evening movie screening.

But remember: a moment's pleasure from consuming the product can bring big and serious health problems!

And if you do not have the strength to give up the use of this delicacy, try making your own chips from natural deep-fried potatoes. The benefits and harms of homemade potato chips are not commensurate with the harm caused by industrial products.

Why are chips bad for children?

Many parents buy chips for their children just like that. Can it really be explained by a simple ignorance of how chips affect human health? Or is it a reluctance to know anything?

Many scientific studies show that chips are especially dangerous for the growing body, causing:

• allergies and asthma;
• obesity and diabetes mellitus;
• muscular dystrophy;
• hormonal disorders;
• destruction of intercellular membranes and the formation of cancerous tumors.

Therefore, in order to wean your child from eating chips and foods high in carcinogens, first of all, limit yourself, start cooking tasty and healthy food, and then your children simply will not know what chips are.

Harm of chips for pregnant women

Pregnant women often experience changes in tastes and desires, and they often have the urge to eat something salty or spicy. But the constant consumption of salty and spicy foods can lead to edema, increased blood pressure and the development of kidney disease. And chips are even more dangerous for pregnant women than for normal healthy people.

Please note: If a mother abuses potato chips and other dangerous foods during pregnancy, her unborn child is more likely to be born with an allergy or he will have a severely weakened immune system.

It can be concluded that chips are the most harmful and dangerous food product that has ever been invented by man. The whole body suffers from their use. But sports and a healthy diet can be a guarantee of your health and an excellent substitute for bad habits.

In stores, entire sections are reserved for popular "snacks" - potato chips. Every day TV commercials convince young people that a party without chips won't be so fun. We are offered to recharge with "energy" of a very dubious origin. And everyone seems to know about the dangers of chips, but they continue to absorb them in incredible quantities. And their main consumers are adolescents and young people. So what are potato chips? And can they be useful?

Tell me what you eat and I'll tell you what you sick

Hippocrates

Composition

These words can be fully attributed to the product that is called potato chips today. In fact, if I may say so, this delicacy has long had nothing to do with the way it was produced in the century before last. Then it was really thin slices of potatoes, fried in oil with the addition of salt. Today, it is modified starch, wheat flour and many chemical additives to make chips thick, give them the right taste, and extend the shelf life. To illustrate the full palette of harmful substances, we show what is added to ready-made chips to give them flavor.

Table: substances contained in chips and their effect on the body

This table lists the most dangerous synthetic additives. Of course, there are norms for their safe use. But considering how much people eat potato chips, one can only guess how much of this chemistry accumulates in their bodies every day. Moreover, three of them - flavor enhancers - are contained in almost all chips in their entirety.

Let's continue with the "mournful" list of what potato chips contain. For their production are used:

• dehydrated or frozen mashed potatoes;
• wheat gluten;
• soy and potato starch (often modified);
• unrefined oil - corn, soybean, palm, less often sunflower.

The reasons for using such raw materials are quite understandable - a reduction in the cost of production. Whereas in stores, potato chips are expensive, and even declared as a natural product. But the use of cheap raw materials turned out to be insufficient, and manufacturers began to save on oil, or rather, on its quality. What does this mean for the consumer? But what - when frying ready-made chips, the oil is rarely changed. In addition, the ingredients used form extremely dangerous compounds when heated, in particular, acrylamide, a substance contained in all fast food that undergoes thermal processing. It is formed when carbohydrates are heated to 120 ° C. Acrylamide is a carcinogen.

A dose of up to 1 μg per day is considered relatively safe. It is contained in just 0.5 g of chips. This means that its content even in a small pack (28 g) of this product exceeds the maximum permissible level 56 times!

And now a few words about nutritional value. Chips are a high-calorie product. The range of KBZhU values \u200b\u200bis taken for the most popular varieties.

Table: Nutritional Facts for Potato Chips

Even the most "low-calorie" chips contain almost a quarter of the body's daily energy requirements. But the most unpleasant thing is that these calories are "empty". They do not give the body the substances it needs to work.

Are chips good for you?

We believe that the answer is obvious. We can only talk about the safety of their use, but not about their benefits. Without much harm to the body, you can eat no more than one small pack of chips 2 times a month. There should be no talk of any daily consumption of this product (if, of course, you care about your health). And again I would like to refer to the words of Hippocrates: "Most of the disease comes from what we introduce into ourselves."

"Introducing yourself" is better with homemade chips, which you can easily make with your own hands. Then there will definitely be no harm from them, and even some benefit is possible.

Harm

So what harm do potato chips do? Their regular, excessive use is extremely dangerous for children and adolescents. Harmful substances accumulating in their bodies can “shoot out” dangerous diseases in a few years:

• obesity as a result of metabolic disorders;
• the threat of diabetes mellitus (because the pancreas suffers greatly);
• gastritis, ulcers and other gastrointestinal diseases;
• the formation of malignant tumors;
• increased cholesterol levels and early development of cardiovascular disease.

Continuous consumption of chips can reduce testosterone levels in the body, deteriorate sperm quality and impair reproductive function.

Chips also have a negative effect on women. Their constant use can subsequently affect the production of breast milk.

The trans fatty acid isomers found in potato chips cause nervous system disorders and reduce immunity.

Contraindications

A categorical contraindication for the use of industrially produced chips is childhood, pregnancy and lactation. People who are suffering cannot eat them either:

• diabetes mellitus;
• heart and vascular diseases;
• gout;
• asthma;
• allergies;
• diseases of the intestines and stomach;
• obesity.

Can Chips Gain Weight?

Certainly! Moreover, it is inevitable if you eat them every day. Starch, which accounts for all grams of carbohydrates, is quickly processed by the body into glucose, and its excess is deposited in the liver. When she accumulates the necessary glycogen reserve, then they will begin to turn into body fat.

Chips during pregnancy and breastfeeding

Having become pregnant and deciding to keep the child, any sane woman should reconsider her diet and exclude junk food from it. This primarily applies to products such as chips. Unfortunately, many are unable to deny themselves the pleasure and continue to eat them at least sometimes. In this case, it is useful to know what consequences such weakness can lead to:

• chips will contribute to gaining unnecessary weight;
• they will cause heartburn and increased toxicosis in the early stages;
• a high salt content will cause the formation of edema in the later stages and provoke an increase in blood pressure.

In addition, the placenta is not a reliable barrier to the penetration of harmful chemicals in the chips to the child. At the same time, every woman knows how sometimes during pregnancy the body requires some kind of "nasty". Such an intolerable desire can be satisfied with a small amount of chips (a few things), and then only in the third trimester and in the absence of edema and problems with heartburn. Better to cook them at home.

During breastfeeding, potato chips should be completely eliminated from the diet. With mother's milk, the baby receives the entire dose of harmful substances that they contain. The result is indigestion and allergic reactions.

The consumption of chips by a nursing mother can cause Quincke's edema in a child - the most severe reaction to food allergies.

If you are not able to completely give up this junk food, you can afford to eat chips only after the child is 4 months old and does not have any allergies. The permissible dose is 100 g per day and no more than 2 times a month.

Chips in the diet of children

Once having tasted chips, children very quickly "get hooked" on them and often beg from their parents along with sweets. Parents, unable to refuse their beloved child, follow his lead. This is completely unacceptable, because the consequences of eating chips for a child are unpredictable. There is nothing in them that would be beneficial for the child's body, and we described the harm from them in the previous chapters. The worst thing is that the constant excessive consumption of chips can slow down the growth of the child and provoke gastritis, heart problems and obesity. Ideally, children before school age should not even suspect the existence of chips.

Chips addiction

Manufacturers add chemical flavor enhancers to chips. As a result, natural food is perceived as absolutely bland. The brain, accustomed to flavoring, begins to demand the food that a person enjoys. This inevitably leads to food addiction. It, of course, cannot be compared with narcotic, but getting rid of it can be quite difficult for some people.

Could acne and diarrhea be the result of eating chips?

How can they! The food supplement E 339 (acidity regulator) just causes indigestion with diarrhea. With the constant use of chips, all organs of the gastrointestinal tract suffer, so loose stools can be the result of a malfunction of the liver and pancreas.

As for acne, the face is primarily reflected in the disruption of the intestines and metabolism. Chips are a fatty food, and it leads to an increase in the fat content of the skin, malfunctioning of the sebaceous glands and, as a result, to the appearance of acne.

How to make potato chips at home?

If you want to treat yourself to crispy slices, make your own chips. This process is long and laborious, but it happens that "hunting is worse than bondage." So here are two ways to make homemade chips.

Chips in boiling oil

You will need 1 potato to prepare one serving. It is desirable that it be without eyes, otherwise the slices will turn out to be uneven and ugly. Peeled potatoes are cut into thin slices, preferably with a vegetable cutter. Then they need to be rinsed from excess starch in cold water - so they will not stick together when frying. Put the washed potatoes to dry on a paper towel and at this time put a container with vegetable oil on the fire. It should be so much that it covers the potatoes by 2 - 3 cm. Add slices to the boiled oil one by one. Cooking time is determined by the appearance of the chips. If they have acquired a golden color, then they are ready. Let the fat drain off by placing the chips on a paper towel and add salt to taste.

You can use any spices, but it is better to refuse them, especially if you are preparing a treat for children.

Chips in the oven

Preparation for baking is similar to that described in the first recipe. Cover the baking sheet with baking paper and brush with vegetable oil. Sprinkle the slices themselves with oil and mix gently. The chips must be laid out on a sheet so that they do not come into contact with each other. Place the baking sheet in a hot oven and bake the potatoes at 200 ° C until golden brown. Season the prepared chips to taste. They are less fatty, so they are preferable for children.

Video: 10 facts about chips

Returning to Hippocrates, let's say that the wisdom of life is to know when to stop. Take care of yourself and the health of your children. There is nothing more important in life than their well-being.