Chips are a favorite delicacy and very popular among young people. Everyone has heard about their harmful effects on the human body, but everyone loves to eat a crunchy product, although it is not natural.

The composition includes a large number of chemical additives. Along with soda, they occupy a leading position among dangerous products.

It is worth considering in more detail whether there is any benefit from chips and what harm to the body?

Compound

At the end of the 19th century, the composition of chips was clear - potatoes, but the modern product is significantly different, many people want to know what chips are made of, is there any benefit from them? Today, a complex chemical mixture with unattractive components is used for production.

Ingredients for Potato Chips:

1. Potato starch (industrial). Due to the high content of inulin, it causes certain disorders in the organs - there is no benefit.
2. Corn starch. Less harmful, but causes allergies.
3. The oil is unrefined. Poor quality product adversely affects health.
4. Palm. It is known that manufacturers fry chips in such oil to save money. The benefit of this ingredient is questionable.
5. preservatives. Manufacturers use to extend the "life" of the product. They are allowed, but many can harm health. It becomes obvious how harmful chips are and how they affect the human body, especially the child.
6. Flavor enhancers. Such a composition is harmful to health, there is no benefit.

Types of chips

In stores there are various brands of crispy product, made using different technologies with a variety of composition.

Types of chips:

• Crispy potatoes. Thin slices are fried, salt is added. When the question arises which chips are the most harmless, then you should pay attention to this type, it is as natural as possible. A distinctive feature, they have a short shelf life and an unattractive appearance, but their benefits smooth out the disadvantages.
• Potato. Made from special varieties of potatoes. The benefits of chips are doubtful, manufacturers often add chemical additives to give a certain taste.
• molded type. These are thin plates made from potato flakes, starch, flour and preservatives. The calorie content of chips is high, but there is no benefit. These include the popular Pringles brand.
• Air. If you are looking for healthy chips, choose them. All thanks to frying in 10 seconds. However, today this technology is practically not observed, and the use of budget oils makes them not useful.
• Corn chips (nachos). They are made from cornmeal. Traditionally made in a triangular shape for use with various sauces. It is believed that the benefits of corn snacks are greater than those of potato snacks. However, they contain a lot of calories, so they are not recommended for overweight people.
• Fruit. Recently, apple and banana chips have become popular. The first are considered natural and useful, because they do not undergo heat treatment. And banana chips have both benefits and harms. What makes them useful is the presence of calcium, potassium and fiber. But why are banana chips dangerous? The fact that they are fried in low quality oil.

How Lays chips are made

Many people are interested in how Lays chips are made - the leading brand for the production of chips and crackers. Lays chips are made from potato chips. At the first stage, it is washed, then sent for cutting. Before the second stage, it is examined by the inspector for defects, and they are removed.

Cutting is done with a mechanical cutting machine. The thickness of each leis potato should not exceed 2 millimeters. The next stage is roasting, where the future lace chips are prepared.

After that, various spices and flavorings are added to lays potatoes, which reduces the benefits of the product.

The harm of chips on the human body

What is the harm of chips and is there any benefit from them, there will always be disputes, but you need to deal with such a complex issue.

Snacks that were made decades ago were potato snacks, but today's product is difficult to call that. Drinking soda is injurious to health.

Chips cause:

1. Stomach and intestinal diseases. With the daily use of crispy snacks for three weeks, even a healthy person is a candidate for gastritis, heartburn, stomach and duodenal ulcers, disorders, nausea, and vomiting.
2. Diseases of the heart and vascular system. For frying, manufacturers, in order to save money, use unrefined, budget oil. According to the standard, roasting is no more than 20 seconds, due to the excess of this period, dangerous fat appears in the snacks, which provokes the formation of cholesterol. All this negatively affects the heart and blood vessels.
3. Cancer diseases. When roasted, harmful substances are formed: acrolein, acrylamide, glycidamide. The latter is considered one of the most dangerous, since it contributes to the formation of oncological tumors and has an effect on human genes. Many people use cola along with chips, thereby strengthening harmful properties products.

How to make chips with your own hands

When they talk about a product like chips, the question arises about their benefits and harms. It is more useful to cook it yourself, it will take little time, but you get a natural dish.

Take potatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, unrefined oil. Peel the potatoes, cut into thin circles, leave to dry on a towel. Slices are sent for 30 minutes to spicy oil.

At this time, a baking sheet is prepared, circles are laid out on it. Send to preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Golden snacks are taken out, sprinkled with dill. Harm and benefit differ from the store in a positive way.

It is possible to cook snacks in a pan. You will need potatoes, salt, spices and vegetable oil. A frying pan with oil is heated, sent to fry the potatoes until golden brown. After cooking, spread on a napkin.

Snacks are undesirable for people who are overweight, suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular system, oncology, have high levels of sugar and cholesterol. Also, do not give to children under 12 years of age. They are harmful and addictive.

You can neutralize the harmful effects of chips with fresh vegetables. Avoid combining the product with or carbonated drinks, the benefits only decrease.

To minimize harm, knowing what chips are is better to cook on your own, then you don’t have to worry about your health. Give preference to natural quality products prepared without preservatives and other dangerous ingredients.

Video: how to prepare chips for stores

Why do chips burn - video

Many are interested in the question of why the chips are burning and is it true. This is true, they are highly flammable and can burn for a long time. The secret lies in the oil and chemicals used in the production, the harm of which is obvious.

Crisps- this is one of the most harmful and at the same time one of the most popular products, especially among young people. They go great under, for watching movies and well eliminate the feeling of hunger.

Talking about the benefits and harms of chips is rather ridiculous, or rather, it is about the benefits of this product. You might think: why is that? After all, this is just fried potatoes, which many people eat when cooking at home. But in fact, everything is not as simple as it seems.

about any useful properties there is no need to talk about chips, even really made from natural whole potatoes, since all the vitamins and useful components of this vegetable are destroyed during the frying process, so it loses any nutritional value for the health of our body, if we talk about it in the form of chips. The only beauty of chips is their excellent taste, which is achieved through a successful combination of flavors, starch and many other chemicals.

Harm chips

Chemical additives? - you ask. - Yes, in what products they are now just not present! - you will be indignant. But let's also remember that chips are a fried product, namely, frying starch, from which most manufacturers now make chips, in low-grade oils leads to the formation of very dangerous for human body substances:

• Acrylamide. This is a toxic substance that is formed in the case of chemical reactions between sugars at the time of frying. It negatively affects the nervous system, kidneys, liver and ocular mucosa.
• Glycyamide. It is characterized by increased carcinogenic properties, leading to the formation of malignant tumors. But its harm is not yet fully understood. This substance is formed during the incomplete decomposition of acrylamide.
• Acrolein. Its formation is accompanied by the decomposition of fats during heat treatment. This is a highly toxic substance that can severely irritate internal organs. That is why acrolein is on the list of the most dangerous substances that exist.

Even the highest quality chips made from whole potatoes, which have no added flavors, no starch, or other harmful chemicals, are still very harmful to the body, as they release a lot of carcinogens that appear when potatoes are fried in poor quality oil.

Yes, and potatoes in this case are used, most likely modified with various chemicals, since they are much larger, smoother and without any damage. As a result, the use of such chips leads to intestinal diseases, gastritis, heartburn, metabolic disorders due to an excess of salt, cardiovascular diseases and poor bone growth.

The main carcinogen released during the process of frying potatoes is the previously mentioned acrylamide, which, if consumed regularly, will eventually lead to cancer. In addition, acrylamide has a detrimental effect on the reproductive organs in women, causing the development of malignant tumors.

But you are unlikely to find potato chips anywhere on store shelves, since now they are made from ordinary flour combined with starch, and not ordinary, but modified, made from soy. Once in our body, such starch turns into glucose, which accumulates in our liver, which is fraught with obesity. Among other things, chips contain a third of the fat, but it is their excellent taste that makes us not think about the consequences of eating them.

We can highlight the main negative consequences for our body from the regular use of chips:

• development of diabetes;
• Decrease in testosterone levels and deterioration in the reproduction of the body;
• Metabolic disorder leading to obesity;
• An increase in the level of cholesterol in the blood, which increases the risk of the formation of cholesterol plaques in the vessels, disrupts blood circulation, impairs heart function and dulls brain activity;
• Provoking the development of cancerous tumors;
• The appearance of gastritis, ulcers and many other problems in the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.

It would be naive for any sane person to believe that the concept of the benefits of chips exists in nature at all. Harm, and only irreparable harm, chips do to our body, and their regular use, as you already understood from what you read, even threatens with cancer. Think about how stupid it is - to earn a fatal disease because of such. So the choice is yours - to enjoy tasty and unhealthy food without thinking about your health, or still save yourself and, possibly, even your life.

Video about the dangers of chips

In stores, entire departments are reserved for the popular "snacks" - potato chips. Advertising on TV screens every day convinces young people that a party without chips will not 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 teenagers and young people. So what are potato chips? And can they be helpful?

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

Hippocrates

Compound

These words can be fully attributed to the product that today is called potato chips. In fact, this, so to speak, delicacy has long had nothing to do with how it was produced in the century before last. Then it was really thin slices of potatoes, fried in oil with salt. Today, it's modified starch, wheat flour, and a host of chemical additives to thicken the chips, give them the right flavor, and extend their shelf life. To illustrate the whole palette harmful substances, we will show what is added to the finished 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 rules for their safe use. But, given how much people eat potato chips, one can only guess how much of this chemistry accumulates daily in their body. Moreover, three of them - flavor enhancers - are contained in almost all chips in their entirety.

Let's continue 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 - cheaper production costs. Whereas in stores, potato chips are not cheap, 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 with 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 found in all fast food that undergoes heat treatment. It is formed when carbohydrates are heated to 120°C. Acrylamide is a carcinogen.

A dose of up to 1 mcg per day is considered relatively safe. It is contained in only 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 by 56 times!

And now a few words about nutritional value. Chips are a high-calorie product. The range of KBJU values ​​is taken for the most popular varieties.

Table: Potato Chips Nutritional Values

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

Are chips healthy?

We believe the answer is obvious. You can only talk about the safety of their use, but not about the 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 eating of this product (unless, of course, you care about your health). And again I want to turn to the words of Hippocrates: "Most of the diseases come from what we introduce inside ourselves."

"Introduce yourself inside" is better than homemade chips, which you can easily make yourself. Then there will definitely be no harm from them, and even some benefit is possible.

Harm

So what harm do potato chips cause? Their regular excessive use is extremely dangerous for children and adolescents. Accumulating in their body harmful substances in a few years can "shoot" dangerous diseases:

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

The constant use of chips can reduce testosterone levels in the body, impair sperm quality and disrupt reproductive function.

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

Transisomers fatty acids, contained in potato chips, lead to a breakdown of the nervous system and reduce immunity.

Contraindications

A categorical contraindication for the use of industrially produced chips is childhood, pregnancy and lactation. You can not eat them and people suffering from:

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

Can you gain weight from chips?

Undoubtedly! 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 store of glycogen she needs, 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 review her diet and eliminate junk food from it. First of all, this 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 a weakness can lead to:

• chips will contribute to the set of 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 a rise in blood pressure.

In addition, the placenta is not a reliable barrier to the penetration of harmful chemicals contained in chips to the child. At the same time, every woman knows how sometimes during pregnancy the body requires some kind of "muck". Such an unbearable 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. It's better to cook them at home.

During breastfeeding, potato chips should be completely excluded 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 use of chips by a nursing mother can cause angioedema in a child - the most severe reaction to a food allergy.

If you are unable to completely renounce 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 not more than 2 times a month.

Chips in the diet of children

Once having tasted the chips, the children very quickly "sit down" 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 useful for the child's body, and we described the harm from them in previous chapters. The worst thing is that the constant excessive use of chips can slow down the growth of the child and provoke gastritis, heart problems and obesity. Ideally, children under school age should not even be aware of the existence of chips.

Chip addiction

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

Can acne and diarrhea be the result of eating chips?

How else can they! Food supplement E 339 (acidity regulator) just causes digestive disorders with diarrhea. With the constant use of chips, all organs of the gastrointestinal tract suffer, therefore liquid stool may 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 oily skin, malfunction 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 crunchy slices, make your own chips. This process is long and laborious, but it happens that "hunting is worse than captivity." So, two ways to make homemade chips.

Chips in boiling oil

To prepare one serving, you need 1 potato. It is desirable that it be without eyes, otherwise the slices will turn out uneven and ugly. Peeled potatoes are cut into thin slices, preferably with a vegetable cutter. Then they need to be washed from excess starch in cold water This way they won't stick together when hot. Put the washed potatoes to dry on a paper towel and at this time put a container of vegetable oil on the fire. There should be enough of it to cover the potatoes by 2 - 3 cm. Add slices one at a time to the boiled oil. The cooking time is determined by appearance chips. If they have acquired a golden color, then they are ready. Let the fat drip 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 delicacy for children.

Chips in the oven

Preparation for baking is similar to that described in the first recipe. Cover a baking sheet with baking paper and grease it with vegetable oil. Drizzle the slices themselves with oil and mix gently. The chips must be laid out on a sheet so that they do not touch each other. Place the tray in hot oven and bake potatoes at 200°C until golden brown. Salt the finished chips to taste. They are less greasy, 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 the measure in everything. Take care of yourself and the health of your children. There is nothing more important in life than their well-being.

Crispy potato chips fried in oil have suddenly become one of the most popular dishes around the world, almost everyone consumes a snack. Many people know about the dangers of chips, but not everyone knows how to choose the safest ones. The delicacy is sold in every store, they are actively advertised. What is the benefit or harm of chips for the body, you will learn by reading the article.

Why are they so harmful?

To understand why chips are harmful, let's look at what the product consists of. The benefits and harms of chips depend on how they are made and from what.

The original dish consists of only a few components - potatoes, butter, salt. The product on the shelves today has nothing to do with the original recipe. Doctors and nutritionists explain the harm of chips by the absence of natural potatoes, salt, and oil in modern products. In fact, a store-bought product is a complex chemical substance consisting of starch, modified soy, and flavorings. But even a snack made from natural potatoes is harmful:

The harm from chips, from non-natural potatoes, is several times greater:

• modified starch. The body quickly converts to glucose, which is stored in the liver cells.
• Fats. Low-quality fats that replace expensive oil are converted into trans-fatty acids, which disrupt the body's metabolism.
• Flavor enhancers, flavorings. These substances are allowed to be eaten, but there are too many of them in such snacks. Additives disrupt the processes of digestion, provoke the development of allergic reactions, and also have a carcinogenic effect.

Effect on the body

The harm of chips on the body is determined by the quantity, as well as the regularity of use. If you eat one or more packs daily, you will have digestive problems within a month.

After a few months, problems with other organs and systems may appear:

Thinking about the harm from chips, we must not forget about the carcinogenic effect. The risk of developing cancer when using the product increases several times.

In addition to all of the above, you can get poisoned by chips, for this it is enough to buy an expired or improperly prepared product.

Impact on the children's body

Doctors around the world are sounding the alarm - the harmfulness of chips for children is becoming a real problem. It is schoolchildren and teenagers who are the main consumers of the product. Getting used to such snacks, children not only consume more calories than they need, but they cannot refuse to use them, clogging their body with fats, starch and various additives.

Reasons why chips are bad for children's health include the following:

• high allergy;
• irritation of the stomach and difficulty in digestion;
• development of obesity.

The biggest harm to chips for children is the carcinogens in the composition. The extent to which substances can be hazardous to children's health is not yet known, but any substance that increases the risk of developing malignant neoplasms should be excluded from the children's diet.

Chips are no less dangerous during pregnancy, they can not only cause the development of allergies in the unborn child, but also have a mutagenic effect on the fetus.

Could there be any benefit

The benefits of chips, even of the highest quality, are very doubtful - when fried in potatoes, there is no useful substances, but harmful fats accumulate.

So what are the benefits of chips for a person? It turns out that there is no benefit from them at all - they can only muffle hunger.

The safest

If you are wondering if you can eat chips and, if so, which ones? We hasten to please, nutritionists and doctors believe that you can eat chips. The main thing is that the chips are the most natural, and do not become regular in the main diet.

How to buy the most harmless chips? Unfortunately, no way - you can’t buy these, but you can cook it yourself - homemade is several times safer - they do not contain carcinogens and additives, which means that the risk of allergies or cancer is reduced.

Also, the harm of crackers and chips is minimized by reducing the use of these products to once a month or less.

One of the most popular products now, especially among young people, is potato chips. They are also leading in the ranking of food unsafe for health. Why? After all, according to most of the inhabitants, we are just talking about thinly sliced ​​​​and fried potatoes. The very one that is boiled or baked in many families is a traditional daily dish for us.

By itself, this vegetable, of course, is not at all harmful. Moreover, in addition to 75% water, it contains a large amount of useful substances: vitamins C, group B and many important trace elements (calcium, sodium, potassium, iron, magnesium, etc.). The process of preparing chips is quite simple: peeled tubers are cut, fried at a high (above 100 degrees) temperature, flavoring components are added, packaged - and now bright bags are waiting for the buyer on the store counter. The thing is that potatoes contain a lot of starch - a substance consisting of many simple sugars, including glucose and fructose, which in the human body play the role of an energy source and cause satiety. When starch is heated rapidly, acrylamide is formed, a known carcinogen and mutagen, whose regular consumption in large quantities causes cancer and other equally serious diseases. Moreover, scientists have found that even a minimal amount of this toxin causes great harm. That is why some European countries have introduced a restriction on the content of acrylamide not only in chips, but also in crackers, nuts, snacks, corn sticks, ready-made breakfast cereals, the production of which uses rapid heating or frying.

There are other reasons why chips are on the list of foods that are harmful to humans. To give a certain piquant taste, synthetic substances are added to them - dyes, flavor enhancers, flavors, the content of which sometimes exceeds the weight of the potato itself. Regular use of such additives is fraught with the development of allergic reactions and digestive disorders, decreased immunity, destruction of tooth enamel, etc. In addition, the reuse of vegetable oil for new batches of potatoes also has a negative impact on health by raising blood cholesterol levels.

Of course, if you once eat chips, it is unlikely to cause serious damage to the body. But if you consume them daily, you get an excess amount of calories, salt and potential carcinogens formed during frying. Therefore, it is necessary to understand: there must be some permanent basis in the diet, consistent with the principles healthy eating. The main postulates of a balanced menu are a variety of products and the presence of vital substances in them. Accordingly, you need to consume a sufficient amount of vegetables and fruits daily, if possible, seafood, unrefined vegetable oil, 1.5 - 2 liters of still drinking water. And, on the contrary, limit salt, red meat (beef, pork, lamb) and its “derivatives” in the diet - sausage, ham, sausages, smoked meats ... Plus, follow the path of reducing the daily volume of dishes in terms of quantity and calorie content (that is, not overeat), give up harmful foods (fast food, fried, very spicy foods) and give preference to those that contain dietary fiber (cereals, wholemeal bread). And in no case do not forget about regular physical activity. Eat right and be healthy!

Vladimir KHRYSHCHANOVYCH, Doctor of Medical Sciences.