Everybody wants to know about healthy food.
The Internet is flooded with information, misinformation, and arguments about healthy food.
But what about the dishes you cook your food in?
How much difference can cookware make? Can it be dangerous? What is most efficient and effective for cooking healthy foods?
What About Aluminum?
You can keep your gold bowls and your silver spoons. Several hundred years ago, when Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to impress guests with his wealth, he wowed them with utensils made of the most valuable element in the world – aluminum.
Now we take aluminum for granted. We also know it’s not compatible with human biology. It’s a pro-oxidant agent. That means it increases free radicals and their damage. Workers exposed to aluminum risk increased free radicals and damaged DNA.
About 20% of the aluminum we’re exposed to comes from cooking utensils.
A study compared blood levels of aluminum between two groups:
1. People who cooked with aluminum pots and pans.
2. People who did not cook with aluminum pots and pans.
The people who cooked with aluminum had around twice the amount of aluminum in their blood than those who didn’t. They also had much more free radical damage. The antioxidant capacity of their blood was compromised. Plus, they had more DNA damage.
Those with the highest amounts of aluminum had the most damaged DNA.
The food in aluminum dishes makes a difference. Anything acidic (vinegar, tomatos, oranges) leaches the aluminum out more rapidly. This is why the leading health agency of Germany recommends consumers avoid using aluminum cookware for any acidic or salty foods.
Does Anything Stick to Teflon?
The standard name is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) – though, because PTFE has proven so toxic, it’s been replaced with GenX. However, many believe GenX also comes with similar toxicity problems.
If you must use a nonstick pan, keep the heat low. PTFE releases different toxic gases at different temperatures. The higher the temperature, the riskier the compounds leaching from the pan.
Also, over time, PTFE gets chipped and worn, so we wind up eating the PTFE.
How About Melamine and Polyamide Plastic Utensils?
These days, many dishes are made from the hard plastic melamine. That’s because they’re strong, they go through the dishwasher and are easy to use.
We know consuming melamine is not a good idea. When it’s added to food, it seems to boost the food’s amount of protein.
In 2007, some pet foods had to be recalled because Chinese manufacturers added melanine – but not before killing pets throughout much of North America.
Yet, a year later, Chinese manufacturers illegally added melanine to infant formulas and powdered milk (again, to make the protein amount seem higher than it actually was). This caused kidney stones and renal failure in babies and children in China.
(Which is why overseas Chinese can make expense money by buying American infant formulas and sending them to their families in China. The families either use it themselves or sell it at a profit to somebody with a baby.)
When melamine is heated, it does leach into food, together with formaldehyde – another nasty and dangerous compound you don’t want to consume.
Therefore, authorities say we should NOT cook with melanine dishes and utensils, or heat them with a microwave.
However, that’s not enough. Studies have shown melamine migrates from dishes and utensils into food at temperatures as low as 30 to 40 degrees Centigrade. That’s about the temperature on a hot summer day: too low to cook with.
This is important because urinary levels of melamine are associated with rapid kidney deterioration in patients with early-stage kidney disease.
Therefore, experts suggest replacing melamine dishes and utensils with those made of glass, stainless steel or ceramic porcelain instead.
Polyamide Plastic Utensils are also a form of plastic, but more flexible. They have high resistance to both heat and oil. Therefore, they’re often used for spoons, spatulas and ladles.
Again, however, polyamide materials don’t just remain in the utensil you bought at the store. They migrate from the spoon or ladle into the food, which you then eat.
In 2016-2017, researchers investigated this migration or leaching by testing 33 polyamide utensils. In 10 of the utensils tested, polyamde material leaching was over the safety limit of 5 mg/kg.
Therefore, health experts advise using melamine and polyamide materials to stir or serve food as little as possible. It’s best to expose as little food as possible to these utensils, and only for short time periods.
And keep the temperature low. The higher the cooking temperature, the more toxins that leach from these utensils.
In one study, about one-third of polyamide utensils contained unhealthy flame-retardent chemicals. They speculated the plasticware was made from recycled waste from electrical and electronic equipment. (You shouldn’t simply throw old computers away, but you don’t want to eat them either.)
Many melamine and polyamide dishes and utensils are black. This aniline dye, too, leaches from these materials.
Aniline dye is also toxic. It’s listed as a probable human carcinogen, with specific linkage to bladder cancer.
Cast Iron
This is a safe choice. Foods in cast iron dishes may absorb some iron, but this could be beneficial for children and young women who have iron-poor blood.
Much cast iron cookware, though, consists of frying pans. That’s a problem because frying is not a healthy way to prepare food.
However, a good cast iron frying pan can also be used for other things. I’ve made cornbread in one.
Stainless Steel is a Great Option
For many, stainless steel is the best choice. It’s lightweight and adaptable, like aluminum, without the toxicity.
Some raise the issue of other metals leaching from stainless steel cookware. That’s because it uses nickel and chromium to prevent the iron from rusting, and nickel and chromium are also known human health hazards.
However, they leach from stainless steel cookware into food only when the pot is new.
After every use, the leaching goes down. After you’ve used the pan six times, the leaching is insignificant.
Conclusion
In general, stainless steel is safest for most everything. Glass or ceramic or cast iron may work too, depending on what you’re cooking.
Melamine and polyamide have potential problems, so minimize actual contact with food, especially hot food. Use them only for cold foods.
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/are-aluminum-pots-bottles-and-foil-safe/
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/are-melamine-dishes-and-polyamide-plastic-utensils-safe/
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/stainless-steel-or-cast-iron-which-cookware-is-best-is-teflon-safe/
Bolden AL, Rochester JR, Kwiatkowski CF. Melamine, beyond the kidney: A ubiquitous endocrine disruptor and neurotoxicant?. Toxicol Lett. 2017;280:181-189.
Brown CA, Jeong KS, Poppenga RH, et al. Outbreaks of renal failure associated with melamine and cyanuric acid in dogs and cats in 2004 and 2007. J Vet Diagn Invest. 2007;19(5):525-31.
Zhu H, Kannan K. Melamine and cyanuric acid in foodstuffs from the United States and their implications for human exposure. Environ Int. 2019;130:104950.
Cooking spoons and crockery made of melamine resin are not suited for microwaves and cooking. Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. 2011.
