Member-only story
The Silent Threat in Your Kitchen
Cooking fumes threaten lung health. Here’s how to improve the air.
I was recently gifted a 12-inch wok and had been blissfully stir-frying for months, relishing the smoky scent of garlic, onion, and sizzling oil. Until I came across a study that linked cooking fumes with lung cancer. The very act of stir-frying or stovetop cooking without proper ventilation — a common shortcoming of a 1940s kitchen like mine — exposes everyone in a home to harmful carcinogens, according to the study published in OncoTargets and Therapy.
Cooking fumes are a health threat because they contain over 200 harmful gasses, including aromatic hydrocarbons and formaldehyde, in large part related to gas stoves or other gas fuels. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers cooking fumes so dangerous that they’ve been dubbed “the killer in the kitchen.” At least 3.8 million people have died prematurely from indoor air pollution caused by a lack of ventilation and inefficient cooking practices, and 8% of those deaths were caused by lung cancer, according to WHO.
Though breast and prostate cancer often get more attention, lung cancer is one of the top 10 cancers in America. About one in 16 men and one in 17 women will get it in their lifetime. Every year, around 127,070 Americans die from lung cancer. Smoking is linked…
