Air fryers have become a staple in kitchens over the past few years, tipped as being a healthier cooking option in comparison to other traditional methods.
However, some experts have explained that air fryers may be decreasing the nutritional value of food, due to its high cooking temperatures.
Air fryers, depending on the size and model, can come with several different cooking features, such as baking, broiling and dehydrating.
As standard, air fryers come fit with a cooking chamber, a heating element and a fan.
The heating element generates the heat and the fan circulates the hot air around the cooking chamber, making sure the hot air reaches all sides of the food, cooking it thoroughly and evenly.
The tray or basket is usually perforated which means that when the hot air is circulated through, food is cooked evenly.
KitchenAid explained that due to the surface areas of the food being exposed to the hot air, the food cooks to become crispy on all sides without having to be submerged in hot oil.
This in turn, becomes a healthy option to traditional frying methods.
However, cooking food in the air fryer could be making your food ‘less healthy’, but not for the reason you might think.
Experts at the Virtual College by Netex explained that air fryers could be drawing out foods’ nutritional value.
Firstly, they explained that the perception that air fryers are a healthier option for cooking “unhealthy” foods can result in poor dieting and a reliance on over processed foods.
So if you’re cooking a pizza in the air fryer, it will still contain the same amount of salt, sugars, fats and all the other unhealthy additives it comes with.
When it comes to air fryers decreasing a food’s nutritional value, it’s all to do with the temperature.
The experts noted that cooking methods involving high heat can cause the loss of nutrients and antioxidants in food.
A study from 2017 looked at the effects of different cooking methods on vitamin content in vegetables, finding that high heat can draw out nutrients and antioxidants from food.
Another study looked at the effects of cooking fatty varieties of fish in an air fryer, reported BBC Good Food.
The study found that the fish’s healthy fat content (poly-unsaturated fats) was decreased, while the cholesterol oxidation products (COPs) were slightly increased – the issue with COPs is that they may negatively affect cholesterol levels.
Cooking with air fryers could also lead to the production of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are carcinogens formed from fumes when oils are heated at high temperatures.
While air fryers require less oil, there’s still a possibility that PAHs could be formed.
