Impact of Cookware Types on Leaking Heavy Metals into Food based on pH Values, and their Potential Impact on the Health Status of a Saudi Sample using a Survey Study Design

Abstract

This study aimed to measure the leaked metal concentrations in cooked food using three types of cookware (stainless steel (18/10), cast iron, and aluminum). Two types of vegetables were used based on their pH values, tomatoes (pH 4.30-4.90) and zucchini (pH 9), as acidic and basic food materials. In addition, a survey study was performed on a randomly chosen Saudi sample to investigate the impact of their income, age, and awareness level in choosing between the different cookware available in the market, as well as to investigate the impact of the used cookware on their health status. The results showed that cooking acidic food (e.g., tomatoes) in aluminum pots can lead to an increase in the concentrations of leaked metals into the food such as leaking copper (0.27mg/kg), iron (3.048mg/kg), aluminum (0.91mg/kg) and magnesium (95.13 mg/kg) but no change in the concentrations of leaked metals into the food such as Chromium and Nickle (<0.4mg/kg). Results revealed that the only cookware that had the least leaked metals into the acidic food was cast iron. For the basic food (e.g., zucchini), results showed that zucchini turned into an acidic medium after cooking which increased the leaking of different metals into the cooked zucchini. The only cookware that had the least leaked metals into the zucchini was the stainless steel (18/10). The leaked metals into the food may affect the health; the results of this study’s survey showed a potential correlation between using cast iron and stainless steel with the incidence of diabetes, arthritis, and heart diseases. Results also showed that some individuals are aware of choosing between the different cookware available in the market based on the health impact. However, their income affected their choices significantly regardless of their awareness. In conclusion, it can be recommended based on the results of this study that cast iron is more preferable to be used for cooking acidic food, whereas aluminum is not preferable for cooking basic foods.