Frying meat on a gas hob can increase your risk of getting cancer, according to new research.
Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have found that the fumes produced by pan-frying steak on a gas hob contain more cancer-causing particles than those produced from an electric hob, the UK’s Daily Mail reported.
Reasons to give up meat
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The findings suggest that it was harmful chemicals produced by heating oil on a gas hob, which reaches higher temperatures than electric, that were the danger, especially to chefs.
But in a warning to barbecue lovers too, scientists also believe that eating overcooked or burnt red meat may increase the risk of cancer because of carcinogenic compounds called acrylamides.
The latest research, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, compared steak cooked in margarine or soya bean oil first on gas and then on electric stoves, examining the particles in the fumes released.
The Norwegian researchers found that meat cooked on gas exposed the cook to higher levels of toxic chemicals called mutagenic aldehydes and heterocyclic amines, at levels deemed to be “probably carcinogenic” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
“Exposure to cooking fumes should be reduced as much as possible,” the research team wrote.
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Dr Deborah Jarvis, of the UK’s National Heart and Lung Institute, told the Daily Mail: “The health message to the public remains the same: keep your kitchen well-ventilated when cooking, and make sure all your gas appliances are well maintained.”
This sounds like an invitation to fire up the barbie and get into the very well-ventilated garden, to us. But maybe cook your steaks medium to rare.
Your say: Would you change your cooking habits because of this latest advice on cancer risks?
