Which Cookware is Safe For You And Your Family.

I did good research on what cookware is the safest to use. In this article I'll share what I learned. I am also providing my recommendations on the safest out of what I could find. I do not work for any of those organizations and do not get paid for advertising their products.

ALUMINUM

I'll start with aluminum cookware. Aluminum, while considered safe by many, is actually a very poor option for the food you heat up. When aluminum cookware is heated, it releases aluminum particles into your food, which you then eat. Aluminum, like all other heavy metals, is good at hiding in the fat cells of our body and it is very, VERY difficult to remove it from there. Aluminum is found in the brains of people with many brain disorders. It is found in all women with breast cancer. All children with autism. And although the manufacturers do not officially want to recognize aluminum as hazardous to health, nevertheless, the connection is obvious. Personally, I am against any aluminum cookware.

TEFLON

The second type of cookware I want to talk about is Teflon. The chemical structure of Teflon is overly complex. It consists of many toxic substances, which, after heating up, easily get into the air, as well as into food. The more often a person heats a Teflon pan to a sufficiently high temperature, the faster the coating cracks. When you heat up Teflon small parts of it enter the air and then into the human body before you even start eating food which was cooked in Teflon. Food in it’s turn also absorbs Teflon, and later you eat it. Among the key components used to make non-stick pans are PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), which is very often associated with various defects in newborns and PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene). The worst thing is that PFOA is found in the blood of almost 95% of Americans, including women who are pregnant. Among the examples of the negative impact of the PFOA component (perfluorooctanoic acid) on human health, is William Bailey III (1981) who was born with numerous birth defects. His mother worked in a plant where PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) was used extensively.

STAINLESS STEEL

Stainless steel cookware is probably the most popular one. Although not everything that is called “stainless steel” is safe to use. Very good cookware with safe stainless steel will cost well over a thousand dollars. Not everyone can afford that price. What is available in our stores is not so safe in terms of heavy metals releasing into our food. The fact is that such stainless steel consists of nickel and chromium. Nickel is completely unnecessary for us and is a waste that hangs in our body. Chromium, has already been proven to lead to cancer even in small amounts. When stainless steel cookware is heated and comes in contact with any acid (tomatoes, tomato sauce, lemons, vinegar, etc.), chromium begins to release into your food in an increased volume.

MY RECOMMENDATION: The Maxam 9-Element Waterless Cookware is probably the best option when it comes to stainless steel. This set is made with surgical steel and has zero chromium and nickel leaching. The cons of this set are: hard to use at first and doesn't come with proper instruction. You would have to get used to it. The lids are not dishwasher safe and this set can't be used to cook in the oven. Other than that, it's a set I can recommend for safe cooking. It is compatible with induction stoves. Maxam 9-Element Waterless Cookware Set.

COPPER

A real copper is very expensive. The price goes up to thousands of dollars. It does not hold the temperature and cools down very quickly. The orange kits that you see in stores with the Copper label are actually coated aluminum and not the real copper. Uncoated copper has the ability to quickly leach into your food, especially when heated. Even copper cookware that is coated, often contains nickel, an extremely toxic and highly allergenic compound. Too much copper in the diet suppresses zinc levels, which is necessary for proper immune function. Lowered zinc levels are also linked to malfunctioning of the adrenals and thyroid gland.

MY RECOMMENDATION: If you consider copper cookware, I can recommend Mepra. It has copper and aluminum, which are very good for controlling temperature, but the same time it has 18/10 stainless steel coating which is safe and creates very good protection for metal leaching into your food. The draw back is the cost. Mepra Cookware Set, Cooper

CERAMIC

Real ceramic is one of the safest. It does not contain heavy metals since it is a common clay. 100% ceramic cookware is not manufactured with chemicals and is made of durable materials. It's an eco-friendly choice that will last for decades if maintained properly. Real ceramic dishes are not easy to find and are expensive. What we see in stores is a ceramic coating and it is not at all the same with real ceramic. Unfortunately, the ceramic coating also allows heavy metals to pass through into foods when heated. Real ceramic is not non-stick and it is no easy to maintain temperature.

MY RECOMMENDATION: Xtrema is 100% ceramic cookware. It is made purely with a clay formula that is 100% natural. This means that it is free of ANY metals and/or chemicals, and is made without PTFE and PFOA. Also, since there is no “coating” other than a natural ceramic glaze, there is no risk of anything flaking or peeling off into food. In my opinion Xtrema produces some of the safest cookware available on the market, especially when it comes to nonstick products. You can click here to see their products.

CAST IRON

Cast iron is a great choice if you wish to avoid chemically treated cookware, but it presents its own risk of leaching iron into food. This iron is not easily assimilated in the body and may contribute to iron overload. You can help avoid some of this by not cooking acidic foods in your cast iron cookware.

MY RECOMMENDATION: Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron is the best choice if you want to go with cast iron. This is one of the most durable pieces of cookware you'll ever own, and it's great for stovetop, oven, and even storage (something you should never do with bare cast iron). It's completely safe, and it's beautiful. The enamel isn't officially nonstick, but it's smooth and cleans up easily.

NONSTICK COATING

PFOA and PTFE are suspected of being linked to health problems, such as breast cancer. PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), which was introduced in food manufacturing in the 1940s, is officially no longer used in nonstick cookware due to health concerns. In reality, they all contain PFOA and PTFE and are considered to be unsafe to use. Tefal does not even hide it. This makes me to believe that the official information that these dangerous components are no longer used is just a myth.

HARD ANODIZED COOKWARE

Hard anodized cookware is aluminum cookware that has been passed through an oxidation process in which the cookware is immersed in a chemical bath and an electronic current is applied. This effectively oxidizes the surface of the cookware. Hard anodized aluminum is sealed so that the metal cannot leach into food or react with acidic foods. Unlike ordinary, lightweight aluminum pots and pans, which are highly reactive with acidic foods (like tomatoes), hard anodized aluminum cookware is safe. It is also non-stick, scratch-resistant and easy to clean. It is the most affordable one.

MY RECOMMENDATION: Ninja Foodie really stepped up in their safety. They use aluminum in manufacturing their cookware. It helps food to cook evenly and makes it easy to control the temperature of the heat. Hard anodized cover prevents aluminum from leaching 100%. It is ok for temperatures even over 500F, good to use in ovens and dishwasher safe. This is a very good product overall.

STONE and GRANITE (Stoneware)

There is also cookware with a stone or a granite coating. Most of the time you will see them being addressed as STONEWARE. It's a very big topic when it comes to stone coatings. Some of them are safer, some are not. In general they have the same safety issues as PTFE nonstick cookware and for that I do not recommend this category of cookware.

GLASS

Glass cookware is mostly used for baking. It has different kind of companies and prices but all of them are 100% safe. There is absolutely nothing negative I can say about glass bakeware.

MY RECOMMENDATION: VISIONS is a really nice glass set which is also stovetop and broiler safe. Anchor Hocking Oven Basics Glass Baking Dishes, Mixed, 15-piece is affordable and will do just what any other glass bakeware would do. It is not stovetop safe though.