Cooking on gas burners can be harmful to health.
Last reviewed: 15.08.2021
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Gas stoves are an attribute of most apartments, and cooking with their use is quite normal and regular. However, scientists warn: cooking on gas can be dangerous.
Grilling food is dangerous due to increased production of carcinogenic compounds. That is what scientists say from Norway.
Experts representing the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) conducted an experiment in which they were able to detect: substances released into the atmosphere during roasting products using high temperatures belong to category 2A - that is, they are particularly likely carcinogens that are dangerous to human health.
The experiment was as follows. Experts roasted seventeen meat steaks for a quarter of an hour. Each piece of meat had a weight of about 0.4 kg. Next, scientists have measured the quantitative content of compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (abbreviated as PAH, these include benzopyrene and naphthalene), as well as aldehydes and heterocyclic amines. Additionally, the level of the smallest particles, whose dimensions did not exceed 100 nm, was evaluated.
According to the results, the specialists recorded in the analyzes the only polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon - naphthalene. Its content was in the range of 0.15-0.27 µg / m³ of air. At the same time, the highest concentrations were recorded when roasting a meat piece on a gas burner, using margarine. In addition to naphthalene, a number of mutagenic aldehydes were detected, the content of which reached 61.8 µg / m³ of air: the highest concentrations were recorded using a gas stove, regardless of whether any fat was used for roasting or not.
Experts point out that, despite the fact that the content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other hazardous compounds did not exceed the accepted limit of occupational safe concentration, it still stands wary. The fact is that for some clearly unsafe substances, the boundary levels of the potential threat have not yet been identified, and it is not known in what quantities they cause harm to the body. And the widespread use of gas stoves can increase the emission into the atmosphere of such dangerous components.
Interestingly, the use of electric stoves led to a much smaller release of harmful compounds into the air. On this occasion, scientists have not given any explanation.
Information about the study is presented on the pages of the periodical Occupational and Environmental Medicine, as well as on the website Healthy Style (http://healthystyle.info/zdorove-i-krasota/item/mediki-podskazali-na-chem-luchshe-vsego-gotovit-edu).
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