4 replies to this topic

[InquilineKea]

http://well.blogs.ny...on-hazard/?_r=0
http://newscenter.lb...air-we-breathe/

[niner]

All heating devices should be avoided, since heating food is what causes a lot of the problem. Before considering this step, you should banish any wood burning stoves or fireplaces, since those are extremely bad. Probably ten times worse than a stove, if not more. If you aren't willing to go 100% raw, then consider an Energy Recovery Ventilator. These will exchange your dirty house air for clean outdoor air without losing all the energy you paid for to heat or cool that air. The payoff period, compared to a simple vent fan, is a question, since they can get pretty expensive. There are cheaper versions, called Heat Recovery Ventilators, that recover heat, but not humidity. They will make your house more dry in winter and more damp in summer.

[niner]

I should probably mention, for the record, that I have a wood burning fireplace which I use on occasion, cook food, and don't have an energy recovery ventilator, although I'd install one if someone gave it to me... This is not to say that I don't think airborne particulates and vapors are a problem. I do, and I always wear a dust mask when I work with power tools, which is pretty often. I find them to be a bigger problem than cooking.

[1kgcoffee]

Overcooking food, and cooking at high temperatures does create harmful byproducts, but it also liberates nutrients and aids digestion. The use of herbs and spices besides enhancing flavour can block the formation of AGEs and ALEs. You need to cook at sustained high heat to generate carcinogens

If you live in an otherwise clean air environment, I wouldn't worry too much about sensationalist pollution. It's possible that there is a beneficial hormesis effect from this and even some of the nasty chemicals in cooked food though I'm not 100% confident on that.

Edited by 1kgcoffee, 26 July 2013 - 04:52 AM.

[niner]

That's a good point on overcooking. Cooking with lower heat methods (any method with water present, for example) will result in a lot less AGEs, as well as less junk in the air. Although their might be a hormetic effect from certain volatilized chemicals, I think that PM2.5 particulates are unquestionably bad actors.