Don't Let Your Next Meal Kill You
Counters scrubbed... hands washed... turkey cooked all the way through... You do it all in the name of keeping your family safe.
But while you're doing everything by the book to avoid a foodborne illness tragedy this holiday, you might be forgetting about another kind of invisible danger lurking in your kitchen.
You see, every roasted (or deep-fried, if that's your jam) bird and every baked pie release delicious, comforting aromas... along with a hefty dose of pollutants that your family breathes in at the dinner table.
Yes, cooking releases all sorts of dangers into the air.
Compounding that problem is the fact that most of us are hunkering indoors with windows shuttered to keep Old Man Winter out.
Let's take a closer look at some of the biggest offenders to lung health and more...
Particulate matter ("PM"): "Fine" particulate matter measures at 2.5 microns or less in diameter, also known as PM2.5 particles. (A micron is one-millionth of a meter.) Their teeny size allows PM2.5 particles to infiltrate the deepest parts of your lungs and get into your bloodstream. According to the most recent annual Air Quality Life Index from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago... PM2.5 pollution shaves more years off of the average person's life than smoking or communicable diseases like AIDS and tuberculosis. In the U.S., PM2.5 cuts short the lives of about 48,000 folks each year.
PM2.5 is a major ingredient in wildfire smoke and, you guessed it, the smoke from burning those turkeys or pies. But you don't have to cook food to a crisp to expose yourself to PM2.5... Anytime you combine high heat and the combustion of fats from cooking oil, you're releasing loads of PM2.5 into your home.
A 2024 study using chicken breast found that pan-frying gave off the most amount of PM2.5. Stir-frying was the second-worst method, with deep-frying in third place. Boiling and air-frying, however, gave off the least amount of PM2.5.
According to a 2020 study, Thanksgiving Day cooking can result in indoor PM2.5 concentrations as high as 149 micrograms per cubic meter of air. And for comparison, the city with the worst PM2.5 pollution in the world last year was Begusarai, India, which had an average PM2.5 concentration of 118.9 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
The choice of appliance matters, too... Gas stoves can churn out way more PM2.5 than electric stoves.
Carbon monoxide: Gas stoves are a big source of this pollutant, one you know as an odorless, colorless gas that can quickly kill you in an enclosed space. That's why you (hopefully) have carbon monoxide detectors installed alongside smoke detectors in your home. Exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide causes breathing problems because carbon monoxide binds 250 times more strongly to red blood cells than oxygen does. Folks with certain types of heart conditions are especially vulnerable to high levels of carbon monoxide.
Volatile organic compounds ("VOCs"): If you can smell it, there's a good chance it's impacting air quality.
That's according to researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who conducted a multiyear study on urban air pollution that was published last year. Scientists measured levels of VOCs across three major U.S. cities. In Las Vegas, a startling 21% of the total amount of VOCs came from cooking (courtesy of the many restaurants packing the city).
That percentage is from the total mass of VOCs found outside. It's even worse indoors...
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, indoor concentrations of many VOCs are up to 10 times higher than outdoor concentrations. And back to that chicken-breast experiment I mentioned earlier... The scientists also measured VOCs and found that pan-frying was the biggest VOC culprit.
High VOC levels can cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea, and they can irritate your eyes and lungs. And over the long run, constant exposure can even damage your liver, kidneys, and nervous system... or cause cancer.
As for some tips to save your lungs in preparation for, or after, a holiday-cooking blitz...
Flip that range-hood switch. Turn on the range hood or exhaust fan on your stove every time you cook.
And leave that hood running for 15 minutes. Even when you're done cooking, leave the exhaust fan running for 15 more minutes to suck up any remaining pollutants hanging around.
Use the back burners. Cook on the back burners for maximum hood effectiveness.
Ventilate, too. I know it's cold outside. But if you're planning on cooking up a storm and the air quality outdoors is safe, bundle up and crack open some windows for a few minutes. According to the American Lung Association, "Opening your doors and windows for 15 minutes each day is one of the best ways to increase ventilation."
Clean that cooktop. Constantly reheating and recooking those bits of burnt food residue or leftover grease splatters releases airborne pollutants. So make sure you're keeping your stovetop, oven, and microwave spick-and-span.
Save the extra-virgin olive oil ("EVOO") for the finishing touch. If you're an olive-oil lover like me, stick with regular olive oil for your high-heat cooking needs. EVOO has a lower smoke point, while the regular kind can tolerate hotter temperatures better.
And while we're on the subject of oils and fats, you might be surprised to learn that the real culprit behind the growing fatty liver disease epidemic isn't eating too much fat.
What's more, even if you drink little to no booze, you can still end up with this condition, which affects a third of Americans and stealthily begins with hardly any symptoms. I dispelled many of the myths surrounding this disease and shared my top tips for avoiding or fixing the damage in my recent Retirement Millionaire issue. Get started here.
What We're Reading...
- Something different: Human-shaped breads?
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
November 6, 2025