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Wasn't there something about some seed oil fumes being toxic? Maybe it's related to some cooking practices. Highly speculative but the cooking oil toxicity is w
by lambdaba 2y ago
Wasn't there something about some seed oil fumes being toxic? Maybe it's related to some cooking practices. Highly speculative but the cooking oil toxicity is well-known.
[edit] found this with a quick search, seems relevant: Exposure to Cooking Oil Fumes and Oxidative Damages: A Longitudinal Study in Chinese Military Cooks https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4029104/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4029104/
[edit 2] and indeed the article mentions it, although just in passing, still my hunch would go towards this as it seems a more specific factor than the others that are mentioned
- peteradio 2y agoGas ranges aren't the only range that needs to be vented, all need it.
- WirelessGigabit 2y agoI was surprised about this when I moved to the USA. We cooked on electricity in Belgium, and there was a range hood. Then you come here and you start to look at apartments and there is no hood at all. Weird. Or you see a microwave with a vent that vents inside. Makes you wonder whether a mandatory range hood that vents outside is better than a gas range ban...
- taeric 2y agoAbsolutely! Having only gotten into a house with a well done vent going outside recently, it is alarming how much cleaner everything in the kitchen is. Heck, I'm pretty sure the entire house shows signs that we don't have as much oil residue as we had in our previous houses. Now... there is also the eye opener that is cleaning the range hood for the first time. Holy crap.
- peteradio 2y agoYes, and having installed one myself, its no picnic so I can understand why there would be a pushback against that and instead scapegoating the gas range. But really its insane how much crap gets into the air when you cook anything indoors on any type of range.
- enhancer 2y agoWhat type of cooking oil does that?
- lambdaba 2y agoSeed oils mainly, a factor of the lower smoke point. The only suitable plant oils in this regard are olive and coconut oil - which are fruit oils. [edit] seed oils r bad skeptics can just double check - the top 3 highest smoke point oils are all fruit oils, with seed oils at a distance - with the exception of peanut oil, which is closer. The smoke point is also not the only relevant factor, the fatty acid makeup is also important, high omega-6 oils are more likely to oxidize, coconut oil for instance is high in saturated fat, olive oil is mainly monounsaturated.
- darth_avocado 2y agoMost seed oils have a higher smoking point, as compared to olive oil.
- probably_jesus 2y agoYeah but it's about what the chemicals turn into when they reach a certain temperature, seed oils probably have something in them that is chemically different
- Iulioh 2y agoDepends on how refined
- enhancer 2y agoDamn so sesame oil or soybean oil? Those are essential is asian cuisine
- gavindean90 2y agoUse them as dressings but don’t cook with it.
- 2y ago
- foobarian 2y agoUgh, have to say goodbye to breath of the wok? Or make an outdoor kitchen I suppose.
- camillomiller 2y agoVery empirical, but earlier this year I was talking to a Thai street food cook who mentioned he was scared of getting cancer from the cooking fumes, because he knew many people who were also cooks and got ill.
- mensetmanusman 2y agoN95s will definitely help in this situation.
- loosescrews 2y agoNote that the N in N95 means not resistant to oil. P100 is a much better choice.
- kazinator 2y agos/empirical/anecdotal/
- camillomiller 2y agoDamn it, I meant anecdotal, but as a non native words sometimes just don’t pop up in my brain when tired!
- alephnerd 2y agoMost likely this. Mustard Oil is critical for South Asian cooking and is labeled as "not for consumption" in the US. I also wonder how much is because of immigration and the pollution in the old country (even countries like South Korea and SG have horrid AQIs)
- snickerbockers 2y agothat wouldn't be related to mustard gas, would it?
- adolph 2y agoFull roundabout: In the 1940s, sulfur mustard, commonly called mustard gas, and nitrogen mustard, a derivative of mustard gas, became a new form of cancer treatment. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5325736/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5325736/
- ianburrell 2y agoMustard oil and mustard gas are only related by color. Mustard oil is made from mustard seed. Mustard gas contains sulfur and nitrogen mustards which are yellow.
- Ductapemaster 2y agoMustard oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, but it also contains a special type of fatty acid called erucic acid, which lies at the center of the controversy surrounding the oil. Seeds from the brassica family of plants, which includes rapeseed and mustard, in addition to cabbage and kale, all contain varying amounts of erucic acid. Early experimental studies on animals in the 1950s suggested that erucic acid possibly had a role in the development of heart disease. From: https://www.seriouseats.com/mustard-oil-guide https://www.seriouseats.com/mustard-oil-guide (there's a lot more and it's worth a read)
- jejeyyy77 2y agoeast asians don't use mustard oil
- bsza 2y agoIt probably also doesn’t help that some cooking techniques, like wok hei, involve heating the oil past its burning point.
- kevinmchugh 2y agoWok hei isn't a home cook technique
- astrange 2y agoIt can be, but you have to mod your stove, and you're supposed to move it outside first.
- kevinmchugh 2y agoYou can also buy an outdoor wok burner, but home cooks are generally not getting much wok hei.
- SkyPuncher 2y agoI just use a turkey fryer.
- archagon 2y agoMany stir fry recipes involve heating oil until smoking.
- why_at 2y agoWhile this is definitely a possible explanation, I would hesitate to jump to any particular conclusions until further research is done on specific risk factors. The article also mentions air pollution as a possible cause: >For example, a 2019 study found that Asian Americans breathe in 73% more tiny pollution particles than white Americans, most likely because of greater exposure to construction, industry and vehicle emissions where they live. As you mention, there is some preliminary research which suggests cooking oil smoke could be related, but this is far from enough to definitively point towards it as the root cause, or even enough to justify your hunch I would argue. Also keep in mind there could be multiple causes of which cooking oil is just one part.
- UncleOxidant 2y agoExcept that it doesn't seem like Asian cooking practices have changed significantly in recent years.