Cooking Roti Directly on Flame Can Cause Cancer: Study Says
Housewives cook Chapaties or Roti directly on flames to puff and make sure it cooks properly from the inside. But it could be hazardous for the health.
Yes, a new study published in the Environmental Science and Technology journal, Roties or Chapaties cooked on fire flames burning on natural gas is very harmful to the people consuming these chapaties on regular basis.
What Study Says?
The study says the stoves and cooktops running on natural gas emit levels of air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and fine particulate matter that are unsafe or very harmful for health, WHO says.
These harmful gases and fine particles sticking on roties while cooking can cases respiratory illness, cardiovascular problems, and also cause cancer.
And not only this, in another similar research, published in Nutrition and Cancer Journal, cooking on a high flame can produce carcinogens, not good for health.
A Paradigm Shift in Roti Making
Over the last decades, the lifestyle of people and cooking of Roti has been changed significantly due to more feasible resources and the availability of handy tools & techniques.
Earlier people were cooking Roti on natural stoves fired with buring woods, ladies were using towels or cotton cloth to press roties on tawa.
But now, tongs (chimta) widely came into use, and most of people started cooking chapatis directly on gas-fired flame. As this style of roti-making is quick and easy to make saving time and effort of the people.
What Doctors Say about High-temperature Cooking?
In an interview with a well-known Medical Oncologist in Delhi – Dr. Shyam Aggarwal, a top specialist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, spoke about the link between high-temperature cooking and cancer.
Dr. Aggarwal said that carcinogens such as HCAs and PAHs are responsible for modifying the human body’s DNA, but it is difficult to establish whether the DNA damage is causing cancer because the human body has a natural capacity to repair itself.
He also stated that if high-temperature cooking is connected to cancer, the person should have consumed such meals over an extended period of time.
As per his conclusion, there is no epidemiological data to support the link between high-temperature cooking and cancer, and anything that causes DNA change should be avoided.
As per Dr Dipanjan Panda, Senior Consultant – Medical Oncology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, Carcinogens such as heterocyclic amines (HCAs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and acrylamide are widely found in starchy meals and meat.
There is no convincing evidence that these compounds cause cancer, but given the known evidence, it is recommended to avoid cooking directly over charcoal.
The initial study published discovered a link between cooking on “open chulha” and gallbladder cancer.
This study suggests that cooking starchy foods and meat at high temperatures may result in chemical emissions that are pro-carcinogens. Hence, such cooking processes should be avoided as far as possible.
Source: Telangana Today & News 18
