French fries "chips": The cancer bait

Non-communicable diseases have been considered the "ills of opulence", as they have been most common in developed countries. The trends are however changing, where developing countries are also fighting the same problems. These diseases started with the urban affluent. The World Health Organization WHO statistics on non communicable diseases   indicates that they are now wide spread in developing countries and not restricted to urban areas.  With the rise in the costs of living, the most common and cheaply available food is the fast foods. French fries commonly called "chips" in Kenya are the most conveniently and cheaply available fast food especially in major towns.

 

When  deep fried, most starchy food undergo a chemical reaction called Maillard reaction discovered by Louis Camille Maillard (1878-1936). This reaction leads to the formation of a compound called a acrylamide (Donald S.M et. al, Nature 419, 448-449). This compound is formed when proteins react with carbohydrates at high temperatures. The compound acrylamide is known to be carcinogenic. With these "chipos" being the poor man's food, danger is looming. Increased cases of cancer may continue to observed as a result of these fast foods. Next time you are having your plate of chips, think twice, it might not be as safe as you think.