Cooking utensils and nutrition

Recommendations:

ALUMINUM
Early studies indicated that Alzheimer's patients have unusually high levels of aluminum in the brain, proposing a possible connection between the elevated aluminum and the disease. However, current studies have shown that the increased aluminum levels in these patients were attributed to a preservative that was added to the sample.

Although up to 52 percent of all cookware is made with aluminum, research has shown that the amount of aluminum leached into food is insignificant especially when compared to everyday sources of aluminum.

LEAD
Children should be especially careful of ceramic ware containing lead. Acidic foods such as oranges, tomatoes, or foods with vinegar will cause more lead to be leached from ceramic ware than non-acidic foods like milk. More lead will leach into hot liquids like coffee, tea, and soups than into cold beverages. Any dishware that has a dusty or chalky gray residue on the glaze after it has been washed should not be used. Also, any ceramic ware bought abroad or categorized as a craft, antique, or collectable may not meet FDA specifications, and should not be used to hold food. Test kits can detect gross levels of lead in ceramic ware, but may not detect lower levels that are also potentially dangerous.

See Lead - nutritional considerations.

For more information on dietary exposure to lead, contact:
FDA
Center for Safety and Applied Nutrition
200 C Street S.W.
Washington, DC 20201

IRON
There is significant evidence that cooking in cast iron pots increases the amount of iron in the diet. This is usually an insignificant source of dietary iron. See Iron in diet.