Air Fryers can cause cancer

Question

This article is saying how the non-stick coating in air fryers is toxic.

Comments

I feel like this is just a little lazy. You could have given a couple sentences about what specifically is toxic in the coating but yet you didn't and basically just said to read the article if you were interested.

Answer 1

Hello! While air fryers themselves do not cause cancer, the process of air frying your food can. According to several studies, air frying food has been found to produce a high amount of acrylamide as well as PAH which has been connected to cancer and labeled as a carcinogen. While I have heard that this is higher in deep frying because of the oil, it leads most researchers to believe that since air frying uses very little oil, or most the time zero oil, that it would not produce nearly as much PAHs or acrylamide. At the end of the day, it has been labeled as much healthier than deep frying but still depends on what type of food you are putting in it!

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/are-air-fryers-healthyhttps://www.credihealth.com/blog/do-air-fryers-cause-cancer

https://www.verywellhealth.com/can-air-fryers-cause-cancer-5082537

Comments

Very clear response. I like it. I can't tell if you maybe tried to quote your source with your response, but I think making that more clear would really strengthen your statement! I also really love responses where the tone of the writer shines through and your response does just that. You were very respectful which some responses absolutely fail at. So great job mixing facts with your own tone; whether it was purposeful our not. Consider becoming an author!

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This is an excellent response. First off, you did a great job of explaining your sources, backing up and fighting for your claim. Especially using credible sources such as government websites. Good job citing your sources, instead of using one government website, I would be sure to cross-check your other sources to make sure they're accurate. Great factcheck.

Answer 2

This article seems to back up the overall claim that air fryers are toxic and can cause cancer, and is well organized for that topic. Dr Dimple Jangda, a gut health expert, is mentioned in this article expressing the dangers of using air fryers due to the "non-stick coating that releases toxic fumes when it is heated up." These fumes include potential carcinogens known as Acrylamide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are created in the process of cooking at very high temperatures, according to the article. Reading through this article, there is no definitive answer that Air Fryers WILL cause cancer, but there is definitely sufficient evidence to say that the fumes released from non-stick coating air fryers and other cooking products are not safe to use at high temperatures, or for long periods of time. Although there was a mention of Dr. Jangda, who is a gut health expert, there are other claims made in the article that begin with "experts say" and lead with no citation of where that information was gathered from. This is one aspect of the article in which I think it loses credibility. Below, I linked an article from the National Institute of Health in which Acrylamide is mentioned in relation to air fryer fumes. Overall, I think this article is a good starting point for your research, but there needs to be more credible evidence.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10808661/

Comments

I fully agree with your fact check. I think that as the article does provide some good points as to how air fryers can potentially be toxic I don't think that cancer and air fryers go hand in hand. That is a huge claim to make and if that were einhasently true there would be a significant amount more of cancer cases nationwide. This claim is just really exagerated and could have focused more on the dangers of air fryers rather than jumping to that short of conclusion.

Answer 3

This claim is misleading, as within the article it states that the actual carcinogens are found within the non-stick coating of the air fryer. Dr. Jangda goes on to state that the coating releases toxic fumes when heated up, known as acrylimides. These fumes are probable carcinogens, however, the issue is really the heavy metals that are released into your food by the coiling inside, which can impact your liver. Therefore, the air fryer itself does not cause cancer, but rather frying food in general can produce compounds that are considered carcinogens, and may or may not be linked with causing cancer in the future. Also, the doctor listed in this article did not seem to be named with any specific university degree or employer, such as UCLA Health. This diminishes the credibility of the article and the doctor, as there is no information provided about this doctor being truly certified or reliable for information. The doctor never even mentions cancer in the single quote listed, which is odd considering that it is the main focus of the article. The only thing mentioned is gut and liver health. There is also no research quoted or displayed in the original article to back up the claim, which further diminishes its credibility for the reader. To sum up, air fryers themselves do not cause cancer. The acrylimides found generally in fried foods can lead to cancer.