Ask Doc If you're looking for the freshest fries, Amazon is here for you...
A few years back, fried-chicken chain Chick-fil-A figured it could use artificial intelligence to identify stale french fries. It pointed a camera at the rack and turned the feed over to Amazon Web Services.
Amazon's AI system was able to distinguish individual servings of fries... track them as they moved around... and time how long they had been sitting. If a pack of fries sat too long, the system could identify it as stale and flag it for removal.
This seems like an absurd use of technology... Of all the world-changing promises we hear about AI, spotting stale fries sounds pretty pedestrian. If we were in charge, we'd just ask the fry guy to keep tabs on things.
But this little experiment cost Chick-fil-A nearly nothing. Prior to Amazon's AI, it would have needed a supercomputer to train this system. We're sure Chick-fil-A management has little interest in building a seven-figure server farm to start tracking fry freshness. But with the latest technology, it could do this for a few hundred dollars.
And if a system like this works, you can expect fast-food restaurants will create systems to help employees do all sorts of things. Keeping track of the fries with a human brain will seem as archaic as adding up the bill for your order with pencil and paper.
We haven't seen anyone else adapting the tech to track stale fries, but the use of AI for nearly everything is booming. And any company claiming to create a new AI-based product instantly hits the radar of investors hoping to make life-changing gains.
You might not want to invest in a company with a system that can only gauge the freshness of fries. But what about one that curates news that matters most to you from all over the web? Or a service that allows health insurers to make coverage decisions more quickly and efficiently?
Microsoft and UnitedHealth, respectively, put a lot of money and time behind these efforts... and many eager investors saw those initiatives as perfect use cases for AI technology. Both ended in complete failure.
It's difficult to know what the next greatest hit in AI technology will be, especially as we enter what my friend Joel Litman is calling the "AI Arms Race."
Yesterday, Joel hosted an urgent AI Panic Summit, where he discussed a new form of AI that is about to trigger a sudden and dramatic stock market panic. Silicon Valley will unleash it just days from now – with instant consequences.
If you missed it, click here to catch up on all the details.
Now, let's dig into the Q&A... As always, keep sending your comments, questions, and topic suggestions to [email protected]. My team and I really do read every e-mail.
Q: Is it really dangerous to cook with olive oil? – P.S.
A: Regular readers know that I love cooking with olive oil. It contains monounsaturated fatty acids ("MUFAs"), which are a healthy form of fat that promotes cardiovascular health and provides vital nutrients, and antioxidants.
The main potential trouble about cooking with extra-virgin olive oil is that it starts to smoke at lower temperatures than some popular alternatives. But as I'll explain, that doesn't mean you shouldn't cook with olive oil.
A study done at the University of Dayton measured the smoke points of four popular oils:
- Coconut = 347 degrees Fahrenheit
- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil = 383 F
- Safflower = 414 F
- Canola = 460 F
The concern regarding smoking points is due to acrolein. Acrolein is a volatile molecule released by the burning of oils used in frying food. It's also released by burning gasoline, wood, plastic, and cigarettes. Acrolein not only irritates the lungs, but it can also trigger asthma and cause other respiratory problems.
Bluish smoke from overheated cooking oil is a breakdown of the fats in the oil into glycerol, which is then broken down further into that poisonous acrolein.
When frying foods, most good cooks aim for a cooking temperature of around 356 F (180 degrees Celsius). The idea is to avoid any other smells or odors from overheating the oils, which means avoiding burning or smoking the oil.
As you'll note, that's well below extra-virgin olive oil's smoke point.
We did find further research indicating that refined olive oil (not the extra-virgin kind) can have a higher smoke point. Several sources confirm it's between 440 F and 460 F.
That's as good as the canola some folks swear by.
Here's the other thing you really need to know about heating oils. In the Dayton study, the most interesting finding was that acrolein was formed in all four of the oils tested (coconut, safflower, canola, and extra-virgin olive oil) when they were below the frying point of 356 F. That means acrolein forms at temperatures well below the smoke point.
And the researchers pointed out that the biggest concern with the formation of acrolein in the fumes from smoking is making sure to have proper ventilation.
So do what I do... Use extra-virgin olive oil for dipping and cold uses like salad dressings. And then use refined olive oil (the light stuff) or a blend of the two for general cooking. Most of all, be sure to heat your pans up slowly and have proper ventilation – run your oven exhaust and crack a window.
What We're Reading...
- Something different: The International Monetary Fund just issued a new warning on interest rates.
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
July 19, 2024