Sometimes, you get a bit of strange news that actually reinforces a prejudice. For example, I’ve always preferred the taste of food cooked on a legitimate, cast iron skillet over the taste of food cooked in an aluminum, non-stick frying pan. Yes, it’ll stick and burn and look like Jesus, and no, I don’t care. Cast iron, especially a generational cast iron skillet like the one my grandmother used, just flat-out makes taste food better. Apparently, if research is to be believed, it might also make food healthier as the chemicals used in non-stick frying pans might be linked to higher cholesterol in children.
The coating that makes the Teflon on your frying pan is actually made from perfluoralkyl acids like PFOA and PFOS. In a study of children in West Virginia conducted by the awesomely-named Stephanie Frisbee from the University of West Virginia School of Medicine, says that children with higher cholesterol levels also have higher levels of PFOA and PFOS, and vice-versa. Of course, this isn’t definitely from frying pans, and might be anecdotal, but all that chemical being heated up and soaked in cooking oil can’t be good, even if the resulting fried beer nuggets are amazing.
In your face, Tefal!
Tags: unusual medical news, cholesterol, non-stick pans, Teflon pans, coated pans raise cholesterol in children, child cholesterol, Stephanie Frisbee, University of West Virginia, Perfluoroalkyl acids, PFOA, PFOS