Has anyone noticed the new Wendy’s commercials for “natural french fries”?
They advertise that the fries still have the skin on them and they are seasoned with sea salt.
Unfortunately, this does not change the nutritional value for the fries. At least not enough to make any more than a negligible difference.
Firstly, although the skin of potatoes provide some nutrients and you would do well to eat “baked potatoes” with the skin; the act of frying them at a fast food joint ruins everything due to the omnipotent and evil power of the grease fryer as it ruins everything it ingests. Below is the nutritional data for a baked potato with the skin. 7 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein are provided by the skin. The incredibly high glycemic load arises almost completely from the white of the potato.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2770/2
It is possible that keeping the skin on the fries also cuts down on acrylamide formation. Potatoes are definitely a leading culprit where acrylamide formation is concerned with fried foods. But, the effect would be minimal and would not offset the fact that we are speaking of frying a food that already possesses an extremely high glycemic load. How do we make a very fattening food even more fattening? Voila, fry it up!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylamide
Now to the salt.
Is sea salt preferable to regular salt.? Regular salt or Terra salt is mined from the Earth. Sea salt is removed from sea water. The health differences are nonexistent. Iodized salt is a bonus toward ensuring that we receive enough iodine in our diet. But, it does not matter whether the salt came from the dry Earth or the wet portion of the Earth; salt is most definitely salt, if you get my meaning. The link below from the Mayo Clinic explains.
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