"It is absolutely essential for the protection of our consumers that a national frying limit be set at 175C."
Baerbel Hoehn, a Green Party member and powerful consumer minister in the North Rhine Westphalia region of Germany, who has ordered raids on some 1,200 restaurants and snack bars to catch chefs who are heating chips to over 347 degrees Fahrenheit, considered by German authorities the point at which the chemical acrylamide is created in excessive amounts, as reported in the January 29 London Times. (In reality, there is no evidence of human harm from acrylamide. See ACSH's report.)
"The author of the study was quoted as suggesting a glass or two a day would reduce the oxidative stress suffered by people with diabetes. If your relatives have four legs and a tail but no pancreatic function, this white wine is what you need."
Nutrition News Focus reporting on hasty conclusions drawn from a study of wine's effect on diabetic rats.
"Considering that acrylamide is estimated to cause fewer than one percent of all cancers, it is highly unlikely that the study was sensitive enough to find or disprove a link between acrylamide and cancer. Finally, as the researchers acknowledge, foods contain a multitude of nutrients, and 'it may be difficult to disentangle the protective effect of specific nutrients from that of acrylamide.'"
From a January 28 statement by Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest, for once finding a study that he thinks should be considered cautiously and shouldn't be trumpeted from the rooftops (perhaps because it doesn't inspire fear).
"The quickest way to kill a child by an automobile is by putting them in an SUV."
Robert Kennedy, Jr. of the Natural Resources Defense Council, on Fox's O'Reilly Factor, January 27, taking a break from his campaign against hog farmers to pursue another menace to civilization.
