Fried food with crispy coatings is the preferred delicacy around the world. People have always been interested in making this appealing delicacy using less oil content and ultimately ensuring fewer carbohydrates in the diet.
Using an air fryer on a regular basis will only tempt you to perceive the unhealthier version of the food in huge quantities.
Additionally, it is associated with a greater risk of heart failure, blood pressure and certain conditions of health problems. Hence, limiting the intake of fried delicacies ensures your better health in the long run.
Owing to people’s interest, the technology gurus have brought to the invention the application of Rapid Air Technology in a so-called Air Fryer.
It is believed to fry the food using a thin layer of oil coating as the heated air cooks the meal to a crisp and golden brown.
Although it seems to present a healthy and delicious objective at the front, it still has many disadvantages lying at the back. Air will certainly take up a long time to heat and cook, which is possibly going to influence the gratification.
What are the Side effects and Disadvantages of Using an Air Fryer?
There have been several claims that air fry can be bad for health in certain ways. Let us brief them out for you:-
1. Bulky and Space Consuming
Firstly, an air fryer is a bulky machine that consumes a lot of space on your countertop. They are fairly heavy and difficult to move around easily.
Air fryers, oftentimes, turn out to be noisy because of the usage of a fan within it. The display of numbers in certain appliances is seemingly small, making them less efficient to set the temperature.
2. Unsuitable for Amateur
During the initial usages, it takes a few trial and error methods to figure out the exact functioning of the device.
Each unit comes with its own peculiarities and requires firm instructions before acquiring the desired results. Using an air fryer is both tricky and requires caution.
If there is any problem that arises with the appliance, it might be difficult to fix it. Hence, it cannot be suitable for an amateur.
3. Technical Implications
There are certain air fryers that resist to switch off automatically, once the time has lapsed. In such cases, your food might get overcooked and the exterior unit gets rather hot making it unsafe.
The fixed temperature in certain appliances makes it convincing to customize the heat settings for certain recipes. Some of them lack the locking system making it dangerous when children are around.
To ensure the meals are fried evenly, you may sometimes have to pull out the frying pan and give the ingredients a good shake. Doing so can get really hot at times, making it difficult to handle.
4. Lesser Quantities
If you are a family of five or more, the air fryer fails to serve your needs. It can only cook food weighing a maximum of 2-3 pounds. It rather comes with a small frying basket that suits just for a couple of persons and thin fry fanatics.
5. Expensive
Certain pans and tools might not accompany with the air fryer and must be brought at an additional cost. If you want to purchase all the added accessories, you are sure to pay a heavy price tag.
6. Less Feasibility
Temperature control, uneven timing and lower power capacity might seem to cause inconvenience. Certain models don’t encourage you to remove the lid and watch while cooking as it releases extremely hot air which might burn you.
Air frying oily foods generate more smoke. Hence diminishing this smoke might ponder the position of aeration inside your kitchen
7. Time Consuming Cleaning Process
Improper cleaning of air fryer might result in a worsened condition. Being said that, not all of the parts of the air fryer are dishwasher safe.
One cannot apt the instant cleaning, but have to wait for the device to cool before wiping everything out.
8. Toxic Material
Some of the air fryers use some types of plastic coating on the pans. This non-stick coating that comes on the top of baking pans tends to peel off after a few uses. This makes the surface accumulate in the food particles.
It makes us question the durability of the machine. On the other hand, metal parts on the cooking baskets tend to wear out eventually.
Print on panels and displays might lessen the sturdiness of the appliance and the materials used might not promise you safe health in all aspects.
9. Deposition of harmful Compounds
When some foods are heated at higher temperatures, a compound called acrylamide is formed. During the process of air frying, there are higher chances of the formation of other harmful compounds and chemicals, like aldehydes, amines, and hydrocarbons.
Their deposition cannot be neglected as they are related to the high risk of cancer. Toxic exposure to these chemicals must be taken into account before making a purchasing decision.
As per the air fryer market, another major disadvantage of air fryers is that steam from the food is retained within the fryers.
This results in the build-up of fatty acids. After a few frying sessions, cooking oils break down separately into water and fat. Hence, disposal and replacement of oil can become tricky.
10. Extensive Temperatures
Air fryers tend to produce higher temperatures within lower time. Usually, an air fryer uses a temperature range of 250 to 450 Fahrenheit.
Such a diverse range of temperature converts vegetable oil fats and is the primary caution before opting for an air fryer.
The heat raise at such a rapid rate results in burnt food. Keeping oil in the presence of the heated air leads to reactions resulting in the undesirable formation of flavors.
It comes as a great concern because charred foods might turn out to be cancerous.
Final Thoughts
The air transfer medium of an air fryer influences the food quality. As time changes, certain brands fail to meet these standards and expectations.
Whatever may be the means, air fried foods are still fried and consuming them regularly will only worsen the health conditions.
Instead of fried foods, it is a better option to switch towards roasting, baking, toasting, and steaming to boost the level of nutrient and protein intake.
Having plant-based food in its raw state and in a natural way is the healthier and alternative option of fried foods.
