Is Air Fried Food Healthier?

We all know that oil-fried items are always in demand, but the adverse health effects related to such foods make people take a conservative approach and become hesitant while consuming oily foods. Therefore, people prefer low-fat air fryer healthy foods which they think will make them healthier. Furthermore, it's undeniable that, despite the numerous health benefits an air fryer can get you, people are still unsure about their usage due to fear of cancer. It's an ongoing debate whether one should shift completely to air fryers for fried items or not. So, let's discuss the pros and cons of it.

Air Frying: The Best Alternative?

The point of an air fryer is the low amount of fat used to cook the food as compared to the other ways. Suppose you want to cook fried chicken wings. A traditional fryer chicken recipe would have you use multiple cups of oil to fry the wings, which may lead to obesity and other weight-related problems. If however you used a chicken wing air fryer recipe, you would require only one or two table spoons of oil, and have the chicken wings taste just as good. Therefore, it is a fact that air fryers can ensure weight loss for their users to some extent if they consume air-fried items.

Moreover, let’s compare air-fried items with other ways of cooking. Deep frying food in oil can develop acrylamide in the food, which is a hazardous compound and can lead to the development of cancer. In comparison, this chemical content is not formed in the food if we cook food using an air fryer. The cooking also uses less oil, hence, a big relief on the budget side as well.

Things To Look Out For

Are air fryers the best alternative to deep frying? When looking at the drawbacks of air-fried foods, we can never be 100% sure that eating air-fried items is completely healthy because no food can be 100% healthy. Moreover, although air fryers do indeed reduce the acrylamide formation in the food, other harmful chemical compounds could still be formed, which may lead to health problems. Therefore, we cannot rely too much on air frying as well. 

Conclusion

We must accept that oil in any form in high quantity is unhealthy for our lifestyle. Therefore, we should reduce our dependency on oily foods because of the adverse and long-term health issues. Such foods may lead to cancer, diabetes, weight gain, or diet problems. Air fried items can be considered as a healthy alternative since it consumes less quantity of oil to cook food as compared to other methods of cooking. The debate on whether air frying is the best alternative to deep frying remains hot today, but many experts do conclude it is a less hazardous alternative that provides the same quality as deep frying but with fewer drawbacks. In hindsight, using an air fryer or not, fat consumption should always be taken care of.