Death by Charring
The
way you cook your food involves more than just the potential loss of
minerals. Some people may like the charbroiled taste, but there’s no
question that overheating food—no matter what it is—may result in toxic
compounds.
Simple Solution:
Maintain a good distance—at least ten feet in front or five feet to the side—between yourself and the microwave when it’s on.
In this case, it’s not how long you cook
your food; rather, it’s the temperature you use that can transform
healthy nutrients into indigestible chemicals that may threaten your
health.
The most obvious example is the
all-American backyard barbecue, with steaks, burgers, and hot dogs
sizzling on a flaming grill. Cooking meats at high temperatures creates
chemicals called heterocyclic amines (HCAs), and exposing meats to
direct flames produces polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), both of
which are linked to increased risk of cancer, particularly GI cancers.
Meats
are not the only problem. Compounds called acrylamides are present in
dangerous amounts in carbohydrate-rich foods that have been overcooked
by frying, grilling, or roasting. Found most often in foods such as potato chips and fries, acrylamide is also produced while making toast from some breads.
However,
the connection between acrylamides and cancer and other degenerative
diseases is less clear than it is for compounds produced by overcooked
meats.
The solution is to keep your cooking
temperatures as low as reasonable, aiming for foods that are golden
rather than brown or black. Even better, include in your diet as many
raw foods—such as fruits and vegetables—as you possibly can.
Finally,
monosaturated fats such as canola, flaxseed, olive, and sunflower oils
are better for cooking than polyunsaturated fats, but as soon as you
see smoke coming off the oil, you know the temperature is too high.
It’s not only a fire hazard, but it’s also giving your food a bad taste
and producing mass of free radicals that will attack your circulatory
system.
A Sticky Situation
If you
often get dish duty at home, you know the frustration of washing a pot
that has remnants of whatever you just cooked cemented to the bottom.
You soak and scrub, and scrub and soak. And if you were unfortunate
enough to scorch your dinner in that pot, you have an even bigger chore
ahead of you.
The stuff that lines a nonstick pan and helps your scrambled eggs slide onto the plate is also poisoning your family.
For that reason, many home cooks have
turned to nonstick cookware. After all, you use little to no oil and,
like magic, the food comes right off the pan’s dark interior. Dish duty
suddenly looks a whole lot easier.
But the stuff that lines a nonstick pan and helps your scrambled eggs slide onto the plate is also poisoning your family.
Most
nonstick cookware is coated with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a
polymer that a DuPont scientist discovered in 1938 and is considered
one of the most slippery materials in the world. PTFE, trademarked by
DuPont as Teflon®, can be found today in numerous consumer products, from paint to stain-resistant carpet to electric razors.
At
high temperatures, Teflon is known to release potentially hazardous
fumes and particles into the air. According to the Environmental
Working Group (EWG), a nonstick pan at just 680°F on a regular electric
stove released at least six toxic gases, including two carcinogens, two
global pollutants, and a chemical that is known to be lethal to humans.
Even at lower temperatures—464°F—the EWG found that toxic particles were released.
These
temperatures might sound impossibly high, but the EWG observed that
pans can reach 680°F or higher in just a couple of minutes of
preheating on a high setting.
It’s mind-boggling that cookware—with the sole purpose of being placed
on a heat source—is lined with something that under high heat emits
toxic fumes.
The dangers of nonstick
cookware at high temperatures have surprised many unfortunate pet
owners who have lost their canaries, macaws, finches, and other pet
birds to “Teflon toxicity.” Birds that have been poisoned with fumes
from overheated PTFE often suffocate after their lungs hemorrhage and
fill with fluid.
For this reason, even DuPont recommends that birds be removed from the kitchen before cooking with nonstick pans.
Due
to their higher metabolism and more sensitive respiratory systems,
birds were once used in coal mines as living carbon monoxide detectors.
If a canary showed signs of distress, miners knew the air was unsafe
and would evacuate.
It’s
time to ask ourselves if we can afford to ignore the metaphorical—and
now quite literal—canary in the coal mine ... or kitchen, in this case.
Healthier Non-Stick Alternatives
Although
you may not be able to trash an entire cookware set, you should discard
your traditional nonstick pans as they become scratched or dented. But
before you pick up that scouring pad and start scrubbing away again,
you should know there are some good alternatives.
First, you can use a well-seasoned cast iron skillet instead. It takes some maintenance but provides great nonstick qualities.
There
are also some excellent “green” nonstick pans currently on the market.
Many use natural coatings—including ceramic and sand—to create a
lasting nonstick surface that contains no PTFE or other harmful
chemicals. Several of these new nonstick alternatives have been rated
as high as or higher than their PTFE-lined counterparts for durability,
nonstick surface quality, and the even the way in which they cook.
Simple Solution:
If you must use a PTFE-lined pan, keep your stove’s burner on medium or lower. Also, never preheat an empty pan.
For all of you late-night snackers and
movie watchers, microwave popcorn bags are also coated on the inside
with toxic nonstick chemicals to help the popcorn slide right out. If
you can’t live without this salty snack, consider purchasing an air
popper or old-fashioned popcorn popper.
It’s not much more work, and the popcorn tastes better.
