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Do You Know Nutrition: The safest cookware

By By Phylis Canion
Feb. 12, 2013 at midnight
Updated Feb. 11, 2013 at 8:12 p.m.

With the recent controversy over chemicals used to produce nonstick cooking pots and pans, can you please explain the difference in what is available? I want to be sure I am using the best cookware when cooking for my young family.

Pots, pans and other cookware are made from a variety of materials. These materials can enter the food that we cook in them, so here are some benefits and risks of cookware materials. Cast iron is an old standby, known for its durability and even heat distribution. Cast iron cookware can also help ensure that eaters in your house get enough iron - which the body needs to produce red blood cells - as it seeps off the cookware into food in small, safe amounts.

Iron cookware provides less than 20 percent of total daily iron intake, well within safe amounts. Stainless steel is a mixture of several different metals, including nickel, chromium and molybdenum, is very strong and resists wear and tear. Unless your stainless steel cookware is dented, the amount of metals likely to get into your food is negligible.

Copper cookware is excellent for sauces and sautes and preferred by many chefs. Copper excels at quick warmups and even heat distribution. Since copper can leak into food in large amounts when heated (it is not certain how much can be taken in daily), the cooking surfaces are usually lined with tin or stainless steel. Coated copper cookware can lose its protective layer if scoured. Anodized aluminum cookware is now the choice for the health conscious cook rather than aluminum cookware.

The electrochemical anodizing process locks in the cookware's base metal, aluminum, so that it cannot get into the food, therefore making it a hard, nonstick, scratch-resistant, durable and easy-to-clean surface. Ceramic, enamel or glass cookware is easily cleaned and can be heated safely to high temperatures.

The only health concern about using glassware or enamel ware comes from minor components used in making, glazing or decorating such as pigments, lead or cadmium. Silicone is a synthetic rubber that contains boned silicon, which is a natural element abundant in sand, rock and oxygen. Silicone cookware is nonstick, stain-resistant, hard-wearing, and cools quickly and tolerates temperature extremes.

Silicone rubber does not react with food or produce any hazardous fumes. Nonstick cookware has a coating applied to metal utensils and cookware surfaces. An independent review panel has recommended that perfluorooctanoic acid, its salts and the coating be considered for more extensive review.

The Environmental Protection Agency launched an extensive investigation and requested the manufacturing industry report to the EPA by July with data as to if exposure is dangerous to humans.





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