Last week there was a lot of chatter about gas stoves. In case you missed it, the FDA is reviewing whether the effect of gas stoves on air quality constitutes a health hazard. Don’t get tied up so much in the statistics about childhood asthma, that’s a bit of a leap as Emily Oster discussed in more detail in her newsletter.
But, we know that air quality is an issue that disproportionately affects women and children and has an impact on life expectancy, pregnancies and on the development of chronic diseases like asthma, dementia, and cardiovascular disease. Being thoughtful and proactive about good air quality makes sense.
However we keep this discussion in context, the deterioration in indoor air quality from cooking is likely brief and children may not actually be the population most impacted (chefs, parents who cook). But just as we think about sunscreen for protecting your skin during your daily commute to decrease propensity for wrinkles and skin cancer, a small dose of something like UV radiation or poor air quality daily can add up, and adds up more the more years you have left to live.
My interest in air quality is long standing, and I worked at the Mt. Sinai Children’s Environmental Health Center as a college intern many moons ago. During the pandemic I did a deep dive into ventilation and hep-a filtration. It’s really a bottomless pit of information and technical research. And it’s something I don’t talk about a lot with my patients because we don’t have that much control over the air we breath, and thinking about the harms of something we can’t control is very stressful. But I want to talk about it today because I think there is actionable guidance to consider.
The story
When we moved this year and I was starting a practice with a focus on preventive medicine, innovations and technology, I bought an air quality monitor. We are living on a lower floor, and the apartment above us is under construction and I said let’s see. I figured the air my family breathes in our bedrooms mattered most because we spend hours there a day. After monitoring I learned all the bedrooms have excellent air quality (all green/ AQI 50). I also plugged it into the rooms that face the busy street and also noted no problems from street air. And then I unplugged it and let it get dusty.
Last week when I saw the article, I plugged it in my kitchen. I am very lucky to have a nice big kitchen especially by NYC standards. Our appliances are at least 12 years old but in good working order. Now I have learned every time I cook my air quality deteriorates from an AQI of <20 / green to an air quality over 150 / red and about 1/4 of the meals the AQI goes over 200. Note what happened with dinner last night (quesadillas for the kids on the stove).
When you review the scale this indicates that everyone - not just children or sensitive individuals will be negatively impacted. This is true for the stove but also true our oven alone pops the air quality by about 50 points.
When we place the hood on to improve ventilation the AQI drops by 20-50 points and to the yellow range. After we finish cooking it comes down quickly in minutes. We haven’t experimented with opening a window (rainy day) or running a fan (don’t own one), but presumably these would have a similar impact.
We aren’t in a place where we want to consider shopping for an induction stove and a kitchen renovation, so we are going to purchase an air filter to either run continuously or run while cooking in our kitchen.
So, the question all of you have is how this affects you and your family. I do think it’s very important news. While we await more information I recommend:
Improving the ventilation of your kitchen by running the hood or opening a window.
If you were thinking about renovating your kitchen anyway in the next few years to switch to induction yes considering it, but also being aware that kitchen is combustion and likely generates some particulate matter or air pollution so remembering that matters.
You could buy an air quality monitor and do your own science experiments. But you can also safely assume that your kitchen is similar to mine as the device is expensive. I’ll link it but please know I have no financial affiliation with this company.
The equity issues around air quality worry me. And I’ll re-emphasize that this is a first world “let’s optimize our health” issue. Let me know any questions in the comments.
I wrote a book! Too often I have seen as a mother, as a child, as a pediatrician and as a friend that parents are left adrift when their child faces a diagnosis or a disability. They leave the doctor or the school conference and say “What do I do now”. Or they fall into dealing with it and a year later feel how hard it is and think “What am I doing wrong”.
Writing Advanced Parenting has been a mission-driven labor of love to help these parents. Even if you don’t have a child with a diagnosis, your nieces and nephews, your neighbors, your coworkers do, and I hope the anecdotes in the book will shine a light on what is a nearly universal part of parenting - being a caregiver to a child through a struggle.
Please help me by pre-ordering the book and sharing it. This month bookstores will decide if they will stock it on shelves and how many to order, and they’ll decide based on pre-order numbers.
Advice for my friends about kitchen air quality
https://cleanaircrew.org/box-fan-filters/
Corsi Rosenthal boxes are very effective and inexpensive. so are open windows. They were tested and proven in covid. I hope you find this useful
Thank you for this. What kind of air filters do you have / recommend? I don’t know where to begin!