Family: Cookware
Cast iron cookware
Cookware of cast iron: it releases iron into food while cooking, and how much depends on the conditions.
Overview
Cast iron cookware is made of iron, and that is not indifferent to what is in the pan: some of the iron passes into the food during cooking. The amount is not fixed — it rises with temperature and cooking time, and rises markedly in an acidic medium. The World Health Organization has identified iron cookware as a potential strategy against iron deficiency anaemia and pointed to a shortage of action-oriented research; measuring iron release and modelling its kinetics is an answer to that. As for effects on people, a systematic review of thirteen studies shows a more restrained picture: a significant rise in haemoglobin was reported in four of them, with only a minor rise in the rest.
Quality indicators
- State of the evidence
Release is measured reliably; benefit to people, less so
More detail
The release of iron itself has been measured and modelled. The consequence for people remains uncertain: in a systematic review of thirteen studies a significant rise in haemoglobin was reported in four, with only a minor rise in the rest, and the authors state plainly that the approach needs further research.
Composition
- What the material is
Iron; the release measurements covered cast and nitrided pots
More detail
The work this side rests on examines several kinds of iron cookware and singles out nitrided pots as the most widely used, building the kinetics of iron release for them. The platform gives no separately measured description of cast iron as an alloy: no suitable source was found.
Qualitative characteristics
- What changes the amount
Temperature, time, acid and pH; models were built for this
More detail
Iron release rises with higher temperature, longer cooking, lower pH and in the presence of acetic acid. The work did not stop at observation: kinetic models were built to predict release by temperature and by pH.
Health-related indicators
- What the pan adds to the food
Iron — a substance more often lacking in the diet than not
More detail
The transfer of iron from the pan into the food has been measured, and it is the basis of the proposal to use iron cookware against iron deficiency anaemia. A systematic review of thirteen studies reports improvement in the iron content of food and in its bioavailability.
- Plastic particles in the food
In the experiment it added none: non-plastic cookware introduced no microplastics
More detail
The same measured zero for cookware without a plastic coating. The same caveat: the work divides cookware into plastic and non-plastic and does not single out cast iron.
Regulatory notes
- Agency reference
Iron cookware is named a possible measure against anaemia
More detail
The World Health Organization has identified the use of iron cookware as a potential measure against iron deficiency anaemia and pointed to a shortage of action-oriented research in the area. This is a position on where work should go, not a permission or a limit: the platform cites no separate standard for iron from cookware.
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REVIEWSystematic review1
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