One of the aspects of human lives that has witnessed consistent use of electrical appliances is feeding. Different appliances are used to make these processes easy and fast, from cooking activities to food storage and processing. However, one must ask if the use of these appliances is safe and does not pose any health risk. Read on to find out.
Air fryers do not give off radiation of any form. The cooking appliance doesn’t use, produce, or emit EMF radiations. Air fryers use radiant heat to fry food and ensure that edibility. This form of energy is safe for the food and for people using it.
As opposed to some electrical cooking appliances, air fryers do not emit radiations. But does this mean that there are no forms of health risk associated with the use of air fryers? This article will discuss the mode of operation of this appliance and how it affects human health. Moreover, other types of radiation and their effect on human health will also be examined.
How Do Air Fryers Work?
As the name suggests, an air fryer uses hot air to fry food items. The air fryer uses the hot air in a process known as the Maillard Reaction to fry food items. This process is a simple and safe method for the preparation of food.
The air fryer has a heater whose function is to produce heat. This heat will then be transferred around the air fryer with the aid of a fan that blows the heated air. The food to be fried is then covered with a layer of oil and placed in the air fryer. The circulation of heat, which is enabled through radiation, allows the food to fry.
The radiation mentioned in the previous paragraph has nothing to do with EMF emissions or any form of harmful radiation. It only refers to heat radiation, which is a means of heat transfer that occurs without a physical or tangible medium. This type of radiation holds no health risk or danger for users of air fryers.
Effects of Air Fryers on Human Health
Apart from reducing the risk of EMF-related health issues by not emitting EMFs, air fryers have other features that are advantageous to human health. Some of them will be examined in this section.
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Helps achieve healthy weight loss
Consumption of foods that are deep-fried increases the risk of obesity and unhealthy weight gain. This is because the fat in deep-fried food tends to be high, as well as the calories. However, a safer and healthier option is available in air fryers.
Air fryers use hot air to fry food items in a medically certified process to be safe and healthy. Therefore, eating air fried foods instead of traditionally fried foods is a way of ensuring that people do not gain unhealthy weight.
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Reduces the risk of physical injury
As opposed to air frying, deep frying involves heating up oil to a high temperature before frying food items. This scalding hot oil is usually heated in a steel pan. During deep frying, there is a risk of physical injury through the splashing and spilling of hot oil of people’s skin.
This risk is eliminated in air frying as little oil is needed. The little oil used will not be directly heated, meaning the chance of a scalding hot oil spilling or splashing is eliminated.
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Reduces risk of cancer
Apart from obesity and unhealthy weight gain, cancer is another serious health risk associated with deep frying methods. When food items are cooked under high-heat methods such as deep frying, a compound known as acrylamide is formed. This compound is a likely carcinogen.
Carcinogens are compounds or substances that are known to cause cancer. These compounds affect the natural structure of the body and aid the formation of cancerous cells. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, there are indications that acrylamide may cause cancer in many parts of the body. These parts include the pancreas, breast, and esophagus.
Further research on this compound links it with cancerous cells’ growth in the human kidney and ovaries. While these research and studies are not conclusive, the indications are strong enough to raise a health alarm over acrylamide.
By adopting air frying as the go-to option for frying foods, studies have shown that the risk of cancer will be reduced as air frying doesn’t result in acrylamide formation.
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Reduces general health risks
Deep frying, as a cooking method, has been touted as an unsafe practice. Besides cancer and obesity, people who eat too many fried foods stand the risk of heart diseases, among other diseases. Air frying has been identified as an alternative for people who cannot do without fried foods.
Disadvantages of Air Fryers
As useful and beneficial as air fryers are, there are some demerits associated with its use. These demerits range from its functionality to handling and management. Some of the disadvantages of using air fryers include:
1. Size
An air fryer is a sizable and bulky kitchen appliance. You may find it space-consuming and challenging to handle due to this size. One way an air fryer turns out to be difficult to handle is the noise it makes.
Air fryers are noisy appliances. This noise is produced due to the action of the fan working in the air fryer. This fan is needed for the transfer and circulation of heat required to fry the food items in the air fryer. Thus, as long as the air fryer works, uncomfortable noise will be made by the appliance.
2. Technical and challenging to use for beginners
Although most sellers and manufacturers of air fryers tout the appliance as an easy to use item, you will discover that this is not always the case. There are some technicalities attached to air fryers that beginners and amateur users make find challenging to maneuver.
One of the technicalities that beginners may find it difficult to handle while using an air fryer is the resistance. Some air fryers resist high temperatures by switching itself off automatically. This feature implies that the food may get undercooked. You may also have to stay with the air fryer to ensure that you switch it on after resistance.
3. Insufficient to cater to a larger setting
If you are in a family of five or need to cook for five people, you may need to air fry more than once. An average air fryer can only fry about 2 to 3 pounds of food at once. This is definitely insufficient for a gathering of five or more.
4. Costly
While a unit of air fryer may not be very costly, you should remember that you are not going to use only the air fryer in your kitchen. Hence while buying other needed accessories, you may need to pay a lot more.
5. Inconveniences
There are many inconveniences attached to the use of air fryers. These include lower power capacity, uneven temperature control, and timing. All of these issues make it difficult for people to enjoy the use of air fryers.
Another form of inconvenience is the inability of users to open the lid and check the process of cooking. This may make it difficult to access the state of the food. You will also find it difficult to fry oily foods with air fryers. This will result in the production of a large amount of smoke. This smoke may result in health issues such as watery eyes or respiratory problems.
6. Cleaning
While it is very vital that the air fryer is cleaned properly to prevent faults or spoilage, some parts of air fryers are difficult to clean. You cannot wash some parts of the appliance in a dishwasher.
Also, one cannot wash the air fryer immediately after use. You need to wait for the appliance to cool off, which will take some minutes. This results in a time-consuming cleaning process.
7. Health Issues
Another serious disadvantage of using air fryers is the use of plastic coating used in some air fryers. This plastic coating can release toxic substances into the food fried within the air fryer.
These are some of the disadvantages of using air fryers.
Conclusion
Cooking has been one of the important aspects of human lives since its inception. Today, this activity often requires the use of electrical equipment and appliances. While these appliances make the cooking activity easier and faster, there are important health and safety questions about the use of these appliances.
Some cooking appliances such as blenders and microwave ovens are known to emit EMF radiations, thus constituting a source of EMF radiations within the house. However, this is not that case with air fryers. Air fryers do not use, produce, or emit EMF radiations.
While it uses radiation as its mode of operation, the radiation in this case is a means of heat transfer that involves the movement of hot air without the use of a tangible medium. Moreover, the use of air fryers provides a lot of health benefits for users as it has been touted as a safer alternative to deep frying methods.
