Hey, potato chip fans! Here’s some good news.
Scientists from Norway have figured out how to make your favorite snack healthier by lowering the levels of harmful chemicals called acrylamides that form when potatoes are fried.
Plus, they’ve even discovered how to prevent food waste by storing potatoes the right way. And guess what?
The best part is, it’s all thanks to some super cool scientific sleuthing!
Acrylamides – Sounds Scary, Right?
When potatoes are deep-fried to make those crunchy chips, a nasty chemical called acrylamide forms.
It’s not something we want in our snacks! But the team, led by researcher Solveig Uglem at SINTEF, has been working on this problem with a food packing company in Norway.
The challenge is, in colder places like Norway, potatoes are often harvested before they’re fully grown.
These less mature potatoes have more sugar, which can lead to more acrylamides. So the team had to find a way to reduce these chemicals without losing the crispy crunch we all love in our chips!
The Recipe for Healthier Chips Through their research, the team discovered three key factors for making healthier potato chips:
Choose the right type of potato.
Make sure the potatoes are the right maturity before harvesting.
Store the potatoes at the perfect temperature.
Another important part of the research was finding a simple way to measure the sugar content in potatoes.
The team discovered that the levels of two substances, sucrose and aspartic acid, were the best indicators of how many acrylamides would end up in the fried chips.
But measuring these substances is slow and needs expensive equipment.
So the researchers found a more practical solution – a simple blood sugar meter that anyone can buy at a pharmacy can check the glucose levels in the potatoes.
If the glucose levels are too high, it means that the potatoes will end up creating more acrylamides when fried.
This simple method has been a game-changer for potato growers. It lets them know if their potatoes are ready for harvesting and helps prevent costly mistakes and unnecessary waste.
So the next time you reach for a bag of potato chips, remember that science is working hard to make your snacks healthier!
