Excessive consumers of crisps (often children) unknowingly swallow 5 liters of oil per year, an excess of salt and sugar contained in the starch of potatoes. Consumed in excess, these ingredients increase our risk of obesity, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. Chips are now partly responsible for the obesity epidemic in the United States, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine led by cardiologist and researcher Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian.
Dr. Mozaffarian, an assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard Medical School, also claims that the high levels of starch and carbs in chips can also alter the levels of glucose and insulin in our blood. And that this imbalance leads to less feeling of satiety, which increases hunger and food consumption per day.
This overconsumption of crisps harms children, but also unborn children. Pregnant women who consume large amounts of fries and crisps could harm their babies as much as if they were smokers.
This is because chips contain a toxic chemical called acrylamide. It is odorless, tasteless and invisible, but causes DNA damage. The Bradford Institute of Health Research has found a link between high levels of acrylamide exposure and low birth weight and delayed brain and nervous system development in newborns. Beware of the crisps diet!