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The materials commonly used in cookware and utensils include Aluminum, Copper, Iron, Lead, Stainless steel and Teflon™ (polytetrafluoroethlyene). Everyone is now aware that Lead and Copper have been associated with various illnesses and health hazards and should be avoided. This is a reason water pipes are no longer made of lead but plastic. You must have heard about lead poisoning before, so we don’t want this in our cooking pots and frying pans. This post is meant to enlighten us on the cookware that we use and the potential dangers some of them pose to our health.
I have written so many articles and I have seen a lot of responses, feedback and comments from people. Hence, I can guess that one question in the mind of some people already is, “which one is the best and which one is the most dangerous pot material”. Honestly, it is a hard to say what the best materials are as they all have their own advantages and downsides.
What You Need To Know about Pots & Pans Materials
Although there are several materials for making our cookware, we are only going to write on the most commonly used ones ans any health risk that may be associated. We are not going to talk about earthen ware like clay pots but common ones like stainless steel, aluminium and cast iron cookware and potential health hazards.
1. Stainless-steel cookware
Stainless-steel pots and frying pans are usually considered perfect for many reasons. This material is chemically stable and therefore, does not react in any form with the food substance being cooked. Stainless-steel materials are non-porous, resistant to scratches, dents, and very easy to clean. Other advantages they have are that they are lightweight and relatively inexpensive.
The problem I have with stainless materials is just that pots and pans made from it are usually prone to local heating. This causes foods to burn and char easily in stainless-steel pots when they are cooked or fried. When foods burn, they generate several compounds that are dangerous and carcinogenic (cause cancer). You can read details of that here!
Despite this, it remains the best material for cooking because the surface is chemically inert and does not react with our food. As long as we can prevent burning of food from getting burned and charred, our food should be safe to eat.
2. Cast Iron Pots and Pans
I have never had any good experience with pots made from cast iron. The last time I used this post at home, it was bought by my brother and when we opened the pack, the pot was made of all cast iron. Even the handle was made of the same material without any form of insulation. My brother eventually touched the handles by mistake and his fingers got burnt.
That aside, pots made from cast iron can develop pores easily and harbor food residues. This will eventually lead to the spoilage of that food particle and growth of pathogenic microorganisms in the post. Fatty foods can get trapped in pores and cause rancid taste in foods the next time the pot is used. When iron pans are used for frying, they can lead to rancidity of the food because iron causes fat to oxidize more rapidly.
Excessive iron load in the body leads to the inherited metabolic disorder known as haemochromatosis or iron overload disease. Excess iron can act as a pro-oxidant and increase the risk of heart disease, cancer and advanced aging. Also avoid preparing food for children under the age of 3 in cast iron pots. Children under age three are particularly susceptible to iron toxicity, and symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, and hemorrhaging.
Enameled cast iron, although expensive, is non-reactive and very easy to clean and maintain.
3. Aluminium Cooking Pots
Several research works have been done to find any possible connection between aluminum and Alzheimer’s. Some studies seem to suggest a link between the disease and high levels of aluminum in groundwater, while others show have shown no connection. Since many people are not sure of what to believe, they have stayed away from Aluminium cookware altogether. There is no clearly proven connection between aluminium levels and Alzheimer’s.
The World Health Organization (WHO)has set a recommended tolerable intake at 2 milligrams per kg of body weight per week. Many people that develop illnesses as a result of excessive aluminium consumption usually get the overdose from inhalation, rather than food.
The body derives no benefits from aluminum, and in large quantities, it is harmful. The problem we face is the issue of quantity which largely depends on the type of food that we cook in aluminium pots. Those are the factors that determine how much aluminium is leached into our food.
If the food is not highly acidic or basic on the pH scale, less leaching occurs. Leaching is most likely when the foods being cooked or stored are highly basic, like baking soda, or highly acidic, like tomato sauce, lemon juice, oranges or vinegar.
Whatever the cooking material we use, health hazards are greatly reduced these days because many of them are coated with the non-stick plastic called Teflon™. Although they have their own downsides too because they have been linked to complications especially at high temperature and when scratched, non-stick coating in frying and cooking pots is very important since we take in Aluminium and Iron from various other sources we cannot control on our own – we have to reduce them from the sources that we have control over.
In the form of salts, aluminium has properties that make it a versatile and useful additive. Aluminium sulphate is added to our water to improve clarity. All foods that need raising agents or additives, such as cakes and biscuits, contain aluminium. Children’s sweets contain aluminium-enhanced food colouring. It is in tea, cocoa and malt drinks, in some wines and fizzy drinks and in most processed foods. It is in cosmetics, sunscreens and antiperspirants, as well as being used as a buffering agent in medications like aspirin and antacids. It is even used in vaccines.
We get sufficient iron from eating iron-rich foods like meats, beans, and spinach, so we should try to avoid getting too much from our cookware added to that. They can cause overloading of iron into the body. FINALLY, go to the last page to see the video that guides you on choosing cooking pots.
Healthy Cookware – Guide to Choosing the Safest, Healthiest Cookware
Finally, let me make this clear that all these pots have their merits and demerits. Experts have said that cooking pots and pans made from high grade Titanium appear to be the safest. They however come at a high cost and some believe it is a worthy investment as far as health is concerned.
Since they all have have their demerits, you need to know the safest to choose and what kind of food to use them for, if you have them already.
You can make use of the advise in this video to choose the best type of cookware for yourself;
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