Acrylamide: Do Roasted Potatoes Cause Cancer?

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Acrylamide Basics:

French Fries and Chips Main Source:

Chart of color and acrylamide content: 

Dietary Intake and Blood Levels - Japan:

34K Deaths from Processed Meat:

27% increase in cancer mortality for high fried potato intake:

2014 Review on Cancer and Dietary Acrylamide:

Quote of Meta-Analyses on Dietary Acrylamide and Cancer:

2023 Review on Dietary Acrylamide and Cancer:

Ideal Temp for Baking:

425 F is Too High:

99% Reduction From Blanching, Acidic Soak:

Water and Vinegar Soaking Lowers by 60, 75%:

No Oil Baking Lower:

Steam Added to Baking Increases Levels:

6 Minute Blanching Lowers by 60%:

Intro/Outro Song: Sedução Momentânea by Roulet:

[sarahj.]

I've always been impressed with the dedication you put into researching your content & trying to make it digestible for the general public. Keep up the good work!

[justcarineinparis]

10:34 taking notes…
Add black pepper to turmeric
Add crushed mustard seeds to broccoli
Add rosemary to roasted potatoes … 📝 ❤

[petercunnington]

Well vinegar soaked potatoes then cooked in rosemary actually sounds pretty delicious

[SeanGoresht]

12:20 has some audio issues, but thanks so much for the actionable tips on rosemary + potatoes.

[pinetree]

Really enjoyed your interview on Chef AJs channel. Glad you're addressing the acrylamide issue. I always hated burnt or well cooked dark brown foods, peeled dark bread crusts off bread, haven't eaten French fries and fast food in over 40 years and very little back then in my youth due to how fast it packed weight on. Good thing I never developed a taste for it. Wish AJ would stop eating burnt food.

[jeanneamato]

You are a researcher extraordinaire. It feels good to have someone we trust watching out for us. Herbs and spices rule!

[omikrondraconis]

Rosemary is actually quite a common herb to put in fried potatoes in France and western Germany. And it is absolutely amazing with potatoes in general, wouldn't want to miss it!

[sidgb]

Just for anyone who wants to know deep fat fryers in restaurants are typically set at 180° C. You can roast potatoes at 160° C if you part boil or steam them first for 18 minutes then let them stand for a few minutes to dry out place on a large baking sheet where they don’t touch then roast them. Seasoning with rosemary and garlic make great tasting potatoes.

[weevil]

So tired of people hating on the holy potato. Eaten all across the world, by countries with low obesity rates, yet so many people are terrified of them now. When they're not slathered in oil and cooked with dairy, they're a good humble food that keeps you full for a long time!

[platoschauvet]

good thing i always boil my potatoes before roasting! makes them so perfectly tender inside

[teagoldleaf]

My grandparents are from Europe and I grew up with their delicious cooking .
One of my favorite dishes was boiled potatoes with boiled fish and green beans, then strain.
Put in large serving dish and top with olive oil lemon juice finely sliced onion and olives.
Still make it but have replaced fish with great northern white beans.

Anytime they made pot roast with meat and potatoes they added wine herbs garlic and lemon juice.
I make the same roast with tofu.
Point is, Anytime potatoes were made a form of acid was involved

[Dlannin]

I'm not vegan myself, but I appreciate that you make a video like this about a food that vegans may often consume. Generally, this is the type of thing people who don't eat vegetables would want to post just as a way to make vegetables look bad in their mind or to followers.

[michellebud]

Thank you for this in depth analysis!!! Loved your appearance on chef AJ! Note at the 12:21 mark you have an audio voiceover snippet for a few seconds

[davidthescottishvegan]

Another fantastic video Mike and I enjoyed the video you did with Chef AJ on her channel. Mike always does good research on the subject of his video's. Love 🥰 the video and love 💕Mike.

[isaacjnc]

Thanks for sharing all that knowledge! But hey, at 12:19 we can hear your two audios, like, your voice over your voice 😅

[Uhhhnvm]

I feel so overwhelmed because I’ve just started looking into this and realized MAJORITY of things I and my family eat contain this carcinogen. I feel like this should be talked about more and have regulations for this kind of thing in the US. Disappointed so many delicious foods, even the ones that seemed healthy, actually might not be so great for the body. 😭

[HappilyVeganSince]

1. It was a very pleasant surprise to see you on Chef AJ's show. 👍. Dumplings, hm: more on those below.*
2. Thanks for the info on soaking and blanching: I no longer have fried potatoes but right through childhood and beyond, at home French fries, which we had rather often - calling them chips or finger chips in the British colonial style, independence wasn't yet that old - were soaked before frying, I think to prevent browning from exposure to air.
3. Rosemary I'd heard of before, I think from Dr. Greger, and I think it helps for other similar compounds in meat too.
4. I remember reading about acryl amide in 2002, I remember where I was staying then, having just moved. It was a bombshell: I'd already become mostly whole food and wary of fried food and oil generally, but thought of the tons of fries I'd enjoyed in decades past.
*5. Interesting to know dumplings are among your favourite foods. I suggest trying out a South Indian dumpling called idli - sounds rather like Italy. Very very popular now all over India though feared by carbphobes. (Trivia: once I read in an interview by Priyanka Chopra, in USA now and a celebrity, that it's her favourite breakfast dish.) Idli is made of rice and skinless split black gram, urad/udid/urid dal/uzhinnu parippu (now reclassified from the genus Phaseolus to genus Vigna, as Vigna mungo) so it's white and looks as if made of rice only. These two are soaked overnight perhaps with a bit of fenugreek seeds, then blended, salt added and left to ferment. Then steamed in idli moulds, now done at home in a pressure cooker with lightly oiled moulds but there are traditional steaming pots where muslin cloth is used to prevent sticking to the moulds, no oil.

Idlis are absolutely delicious, delicately sour and with a distinctive texture. Normally made with white rice and skinless split dal, I used to make them from whole brown rice and the entire legumes with the black skin (sabut urad) then they have a coarse texture and look greyish but are of course delicious. Instant idli mix of the Gits brand is available and the idlis come out good though not quite authentic, with citric acid in the mix to replace the sourness of fermentation.
Idlis are served with coconut chutney (perhaps other chutneys too, green, brown and orange) and the classic lentil soup, sambhar (saambaar) soured with tamarind and delicious though sometimes having a lot of chillies.

Oh, and idlis could also be served with what is called gunpowder. 😀. That's a fiery dry mix of red chillies and well roasted lentils, salt etc., served along with ghee or one could use oil. Wonderful and delicious in its way. The very pungent gunpowder is fun by itself, too; one could buy ready packets I think It's called dry red chutney. Will update. (Update: amazon India has many, one even listed as gunpowder. Mulgaphodi, Podi, Phodi are traditional names.) Years since I had gunpowder... you could ask for it with a straight face as gunpowder in a truly South Indian restaurant like the Sagar chain, they won't call the cops. 😊. Or of course dry chutney, phodi, m(u)olgaphodi. Generally not served unless requested by the cognoscenti.

Idlis are perhaps best with only coconut chutney. There must be many receipe videos on YouTube: search for rice idli as now there could be creative innovations too. An instant coconut chutney mix is available from Gits too, and of course receipes on YouTube.

I'm sure you will like idlis - I recall people from Europe and Canada enjoying them at the Sivananda Ashram in Kerala during a yoga course. There's a restaurant in a Hindu temple in NY city which may serve idlis as they do serve their cousin, the dosa. You would probably also find idlis in Sri Lanka and Eastern Asian countries like Malaysia as there are people with Tamil and other South Indian origins there. Must try idlis!

[citadelofwinds]

Interesting info re rosemary on potatoes, as I cook my potatoes almost every time with rosemary. I do it for the taste, but one has to wonder if way back in history people had observed that rosemary (and other herbs) had healthful impacts, hence these herbs became a standard flavouring for spuds and other roasted vegs.

[ZsS]

Since 1 month ago i don't see your videos recommended. I felt i miss something and needed to find you. Look into what needs to be adjusted, since you are a gem...

[il-conte]

I thought I did not tolerate potatoes well, as they would always irritate my gut. Turned out that it's only baked and fried potatoes. Boiled is totally fine