Air fryer owners who bought into the hype could swear that their fried foods have never been healthier. Air frying is, indeed, a radically different way of frying food. For one, you don't use any type of oil anymore (or use very little of it, at least).
But is an air fryer being healthier actually true? To answer this question, you'll need to delve into air frying as a whole--how it works and what experts think about it.
How An Air Fryer Works
First off, an air fryer works using a deceptively simple method. Instead of using hot oil, it uses hot air, which circulates in and around the food to achieve a crunchy exterior, according to HealthLine.
This happens via a chemical reaction called the Maillard reaction, which states that the color and flavor of food can be altered if the proteins and reducing sugars in it react with heat.
Air frying proponents say that this method of making fried food is healthier because of the purported lower fat content.
You can think of an air fryer as some sort of a "roided out" version of a convection oven. That's because both appliances work with the same principle. The only difference is that a convection oven only uses heat, while an air fryer will require both heat and air to get the job done.
How Air-Fried Food Compares
Taste and texture-wise, food cooked in an air fryer are similar to its deep-fried counterparts. They only differ in the actual fat content.
Here's one for all strict calorie-counters out there: the less oil you use to cook something, the fewer the calories. And according to EatingWell.com, air frying can significantly cut back on the oil absorbed into the food compared to deep frying.
An air fryer consumes so much less oil than a deep fryer that it's not even close. As per the original HealthLine article, deep fryers can use up as much as 50 times more oil than an air fryer.
This was evident in a study of air fryers back in 2015, according to BBC Good Food. The study did find out that these appliances ensured that the food contained substantially lower fat contents.
You can check out the study on PubMed.
What Do Experts Say?
Dieticians have weighed in on the supposed health benefits of air frying, and their reactions are mostly positive.
According to them, it's all about oil retention and specific compounds produced when heating oil. Whenever you heat cooking oil, it produces an increased amount of inflammatory compounds, which can be directly absorbed into the fried food.
Since an air fryer doesn't use up a lot of cooking oil, there's a much lower chance of these compounds being retained in the food. This can then lead to a lower risk of developing chronic disease and cardiovascular ailments, among others.
The Bottom Line
Using an air fryer is healthier. That's the short answer. But now, at least you know why, and you can be confident in your next craving for french fries or fried chicken. It's also a good thing that air fryers aren't too expensive, to begin with.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
