Is it a commonly known thing that overcooking potatoes and white foods is a carcinogenic?

[30hourschildcare]

I was cooking potatoes and it said to not go over the time or the cooking temperature.
I was curious as to why so I looked it up.

I asked my DP and my friends and none of them knew this.

Also the amount of browned potatoes and other foods on the list I have eaten, not to mention toast, Has concerned me.

Can anyone give me some more info on this without freaking me out?

Life in general appears to be carcinogenic so I wouldn’t worry.

@etulosba that is truly the best response I could of hoped for! Thank you!

Technically overcooking any food would potentially fall into this category, like bbqing, frying, basically anything that 'browns' any sort of food. Steaming, boiling, poaching etc is less carciogenic, but obviously less tasty.

Is this the acrylamide risk? I’m aware of it but not willing to give up golden starchy foods and coffee so 🤷‍♀️

If I stopped eating stuff that was bad for me, I would starve to death.

You mean over browning, not boiling to a mush?

Yes, my gran used to say burned toast was carcinogenic and she's been dead 20 years.

In fact we had a conversation in the office about just this only yesterday.

Yea over browning.

I am not so worried about my self but I always over cook kids food worried I will poison them if undercooked! 😩

This. It was a big thing a few years ago but to be honest, we've all got to die if something and I'll take a slightly elevated cancer rather than the disappointment that is a lifetime of undercooked chips etc.

Over browning anything presumably is verging on carcinogenic. Unless you are so unable to cook that food is burnt to a crisp days upon days a week at home and still getting eaten or having vast amounts of it daily I can't imagine the measured risk is any more than most other things and certainly less than consuming something like processed meat generally, or smoking.

I agreed.

Given that a lot of these scares result from experiments where they have fed some sort of rodent 1,000,000 times their bodyweight of something it could never normally get hold of then I take them with a pinch of salt.

I am pretty sure that pretty much everything if you consumed enough of it would cause cancer!!

it’s like when they say that pineapple induces labour - yes there’s an enzyme that does but you would need to eat something like 50 pineapple all together to actually induce labour!

Acrylamide toxicity has been known about for a long time.

Margarine is 'healthier' than butter due to the saturated fat and salt content was one of the big scares I remember from my childhood. When I left home and read the ingredients list of marg v butter I switched back to butter in moderation and haven't looked back. The taste is much better and I still don't understand what they make margarine from?!

Much like I try to use more natural cleaning products like method on a daily basis, but when the dog decides to let rip, you best believe I'm cracking out the febreeze!

I know that burnt is food carcinogenic, when I read the thread title I thought you meant over boiling 😂

Do you mean if we let roast potatoes or oven chips get too crispy, rather than over-boiling so that they mash themselves ?

I can see that fits in more with other things I've heard but I thought the issues with grilling, barbecuing until blackened was only an issue with meat - didn't realise it was a problem with veg too. In that case, is it the same with other roast veg?

Over-browning is definitely carcinogenic, but I just can’t resist a burnt sausage!

Oh dear I love burnt toast. I'll take my chances

"I am not so worried about my self but I always over cook kids food worried I will poison them if undercooked! 😩"

OP if you overcook everything then you are reducing the vitamins and nutrition within them.
Most things can be eaten raw, apart from the obvious of pork and poultry.
Spuds should be cooked but are hardly going to poison you if a few minutes under.

Please don’t worry too much, current evidence doesn’t show that (though there’s much better evidence with regard to risk from too much processed meats, however much you under or over cook them).
www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/cancer-myths/can-eating-burnt-foods-cause-cancer

I've just learnt that bacon is processed meat from the link above. I always thought it was just noral meat. Oops lol

Life's too short to worry about it lol. Love burnt toast.

@saleorbouy thank you, I don't really over cook vegetables, was more referring to anything with meat or to be honest- chicken dippers, fish fingers, potatoe waffles that kind of thing.🤦‍♀️

@NighghtmareNeighbour that's really reassuring and helpful! Thanks so much!

And yet we are still all here

Didn't this originate from the connection between bbqs and cancer in Australia?

@JonahAndTheSnail

Yes to switching to butter.
My mum , some years ago , was warned about her cholesterol levels. A friend of her's told her to ditch spreads and use butter instead. Mum said she was warned against eating butter.

Mum thought she'd give it a go. She used butter in sandwiches and cooking.

Her unhealthy cholesterol levels plummeted.

I think this “browned carbs are carcinogenic” idea has been debunked since it was widely reported a few years back.

Don’t worry op.