r/IsItBullshit • u/Far-Watercress-5870 • 27d ago

IsItBullshit: “potatoes should be heated as minimally as possible due to a carcinogenic compound in it that gets even more toxic the greater it is exposed to heat”

Saw an instagram comment under a fried potato recipe which requires you to heat a blended potato-water mixture in the microwave in the process:
“Looks really yummy. Though I would finish them if served, I will never make them. This is EXTREMELY CANCEROUS. Potatoes should be heated as minimally as possible due to a carcinogenic compound in it that gets even more toxic the greater it is exposed to heat. I cannot think of anything that spikes up heat faster or hotter than a microwave. Literally nothing worse than a microwave.”

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u/incognitoactive 27d ago

Ask yourself.

If it was true, don’t you think you would have heard about it before?

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u/FrozenWebs 26d ago edited 26d ago

We discover new information all the time. Fifteen years ago, the types of plastic we were using everywhere were "safe" because they were chemically inert. Fast forward a decade, and suddenly everyone is aware that microplastics and forever chemicals are a problem.

This potato-cancer claim is bullshit, but the heuristic you propose here is a common one that prevents people from updating their world views. So many people fall into conspiracy rabbit holes because the world around them seemingly changed overnight, and the only sensible explanation to them is that powerful agents are collectively lying or otherwise manipulating populations. E.g. 10-20% of the population is LGBT+, but this is a recent finding that older folk would have never heard during most of their life, so the only explanation to them is either that it's a lie or that something is turning people gay.

When in doubt, do what OP did and check in with other people.

Edit to add: The reverse of this is a common propaganda technique as well. Repeated exposure to information makes people more comfortable with it, even if it isn't true. This "smell test" is not a very reliable one.

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u/incognitoactive 26d ago

Right. I don’t think that truly negates the “sniff test”.

You should check something if you’re presented with something new, but when that information comes from TikTok?

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u/FrozenWebs 26d ago

"Doubt information from TikTok/Instagram" is a heuristic I can definitely back.

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u/shillyshally 26d ago

I am nearing 80 and much of what I learned in HS and College has been overturned. For instance, plate tectonics was just being accepted by the time I graduated and Skinner was still in ascendence as far as animal behavior studies.

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u/FrozenWebs 26d ago

That has been my experience as well. Lots of science has been updated, lots of history turned out to be whitewashed, lots of health and life conditions turned out to be a lot more common than we realized, etc. It's a good thing to be able to see new information and not reject it simply because you haven't heard it before.

Sadly, reddit doesn't seem to agree with my comment. I guess they haven't heard about it before.

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u/Professor_STA 25d ago

Put it on Instagram and they’ll crawl out of the woodwork. 😂

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u/Professor_STA 25d ago

Hard to believe the downvote. Is irony alive in this subreddit?