The cookware industry has long claimed that cooking in nonstick pans is not a significant source of exposure to the chemical perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). However, the September 2010 issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine reports possible health risks, including high cholesterol levels, to children from exposure to this chemical. This chemical is of course the nonstick coating of cookware.
According to the Cookware Manufacturing Association, the PFOA which is used in the manufacture of the coating does not stay in the coating by the time the product reaches the consumer. And science seems to back up this claim because PFOA is found in the blood of people all over the world, including places where there are no Teflon pans.
Non Stick Cookware
How exposure to PFOA occurs truly remains unknown. Experts speculate sources of exposure might include drinking water, packaging of food, microwave popcorn and possibly even the air we breathe. Recent research suggests that almost all of us have some level of PFOA in our blood.
In the study, blood samples taken from over 12,000 children and teens enrolled in the C8 Health Project were analyzed. The C8 Health Project is a study of communities in the mid-Ohio River Valley which are exposed to high levels of PFOA due to contaminated drinking water. The research project was conducted because of a class action suit settlement against chemical giant DuPont. DuPont operated the plant linked to the contamination of the water.
The researchers analyzed blood levels of two chemicals, one of which is perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) which is used mostly in nonstick cookware. PFOA concentrations were on average about 7 times higher than those reported in a nationally representative survey.
Children who had the highest levels of these chemicals in their blood were also more likely to have abnormally high total cholesterol and LDL (bad) cholesterol according to researcher Stephanie J. Frisbee, MSc of the West Virginia University School of Medicine.
Children and teens with the highest blood levels of PFOA had a 20% increased risk of higher total cholesterol, 40% increased risk of higher LDL cholesterol than those with the lowest levels of the chemical. Those subjects with the highest PFOS levels were 60% more likely than those with the lowest levels to have high total and LDL cholesterol.
Of course the research is not solid proof that being exposed to PFOA raises cholesterol, but the findings do warrant additional study, because these potentially harmful chemicals are all around us.
Because the effects of PFOA are not yet known, the Environmental Protection Agency has asked DuPont and other companies to stop using the chemical by the year 2015. DuPont agreed to the ban and has pledged to phase out the chemical before the deadline.