Did you know that cooking in aluminum utensils can be dangerous for your health?

Cooking is an art, and plating it well just adds to the art with all that attention to detail! While cooking, you take care of a lot of things and follow all of the healthy ways of preparing food, but do you know if the tool you use to prepare your favorite meal is beneficial for your health or not? If feeding your family nutrient-dense, healthy food is a top priority, keep reading since most of the cooking equipment you use is bad for your health and often acts as catalysts for numerous chemical processes in our bodies, affecting our health! Aluminum is one of the most widely utilized metals in Indian cuisine. Steel, brass, copper, and non-stick containers are among the materials utilized.

Is aluminum hazardous?

Nowadays, we see a lot of aluminum metal used in several places. Aluminum cooking utensils, in particular, are an excellent choice for cooks, even when simply reheating food. Aluminum ions dissolve faster in acidic meals than in basic foods, therefore when lime, tomato, and other acidic foods are cooked in such vessels, the metal ions dissolve faster, and the food is hazardous to the health. Aluminum heats up quickly and reacts with acidic foods, but the result is not visible in the meal, thus it goes unnoticed. Aluminum enters the body in amounts of 5 to 7 milligrams every day. Aluminum ingested from food enters the bloodstream and accumulates in various organs, creating a variety of health issues. These impacts take time to manifest, but once they do, they become a part of our health, necessitating a series of therapies.

Effects of toxicity on health

Aluminium builds up in the body and becomes a toxin over time: The human body's ability to eliminate such metals is limited. They eventually accumulate in cells of the muscles, kidneys, liver, bones, and other tissues when this limit is exceeded. Aluminum has a toxic effect on brain cells as well. It functions as an oxidative free radical. Slow poisoning occurs as a result of the metal's accumulation in the body.

Diseases resulting from food cooked in aluminum vessels:

• Anxiety
• Indigestion 
• Depression
• Abdominal pain
• Dandruff
• Colitis (intestinal infection)
• Recurrent mouth inflammation and skin illnesses such as eczema
• Kidney disease
• Diarrhoea, hyperacidity
• Bone illnesses (such as osteoporosis)
• Eye problems

Aluminum is toxic to brain cells: Memory loss, Alzheimer's disease, loss of nerve functions, tinnitus, headache (migraine), seizures, epileptic attacks, nerve signal fluctuations, demyelination of nerves (which is the protective coating of nerve cells), and sensory and motor neuron dysfunctions are all caused by aluminum, which is neurotoxic and causes myelin sheath disintegration around axons of neurons.

What should be done? 

• To prevent aluminum from dissolving in food, most non-stick cookware is constructed of aluminum or its alloys with a Teflon covering. This covering becomes damaged over time, allowing the aluminum to come into touch with the food and dissolve into it. If you're using non-stick cookware, you should wash it with a soft sponge and mild soap. 
• Teflon-coated vessels should never be cleaned with an abrasive scourer. 
• Scratching can be avoided by stirring food in non-stick utensils using plastic or wooden spoons. These spoons are also a health threat since bacteria thrive in the pores of the wood and plastic spoons, which are difficult to clean properly. Wooden spoons should be sterilized with a bleaching powder solution in water regularly. Plastic spoons can be sanitized by immersing them in a 1:6 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water for 20 minutes. 

As a result, we advocate using cast iron or stainless steel cookware and spoons for optimum health and hygiene.