The Best (& Worst) Cookware Materials For Minimizing Environmental Chemical Exposure

In the well-being space, we spend a lot of time (and money) prioritizing healthy, nourishing foods, often striving for the highest quality we can afford. We read product labels, load up on antioxidant-rich foods, and often seek out organically grown and raised produce and animal products. But what about the materials that we cook that food in? 

Thanks to flashy, modern marketing campaigns; contemporary, eye-pleasing color palates; and celebrity endorsements, I've found that buying cookware is more about what's hip than what's healthy (or sustainable). 

First, I'll say this: We are exposed to hundreds of toxic chemicals every day, and we've only really ramped up research into what this might mean in the last 15 to 20 years. While we cannot avoid exposure to all toxic chemicals, research does show that we can reduce exposure by changing the foods we eat1, the products we buy2, and our behaviors3. 

When it comes to toxic chemical exposure, the goal is not to strive for 100% nontoxic everything, as this is technically impossible (even polar bears in the Arctic4 have toxic chemicals in their bodies!). What we're aiming for is to reduce our exposure in ways that are accessible, while not stressing out about the exposures we can't reduce. 

Unfortunately, some popular types of cookware expose us to harmful chemicals every time we use them. Will cooking on one of these types of materials automatically mean you'll get sick or develop some serious health issue?

No, but using materials with harmful chemicals every day, even multiple times a day, can add up over time and lead to increased risk of certain health conditions or exacerbate conditions that already exist. 

Consumer goods regulations in the U.S. and in most countries around the world don't require manufacturers to disclose information about what materials and chemicals they use. This leaves consumers a little bit (or sometimes entirely) in the dark. Cookware is no exception. 

While many types of cookware can be a source of exposure to harmful chemicals, the most concerning is nonstick cookware due to the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, aka PFAS chemicals. 

You've likely read about PFAS chemicals‚ they're in drinking water, carpeting5, fast food packaging, house dust6, and they're in us; PFAS compounds have been measured in the blood of nearly all Americans.

PFAS is an enormous class of between 4,000 and 12,000 human-made chemicals, most of which we don't know anything about. The two most heavily studied chemicals in this class, PFOA and PFOS, were used for decades to make, among other things, nonstick-coated cookware. 

While most uses of PFOA and PFOS were voluntarily phased out of use in the early 2000s due to their toxicity and persistence, they were replaced with similarly toxic but slightly less persistent versions. In other words, despite the marketing language you'll often see from cookware manufacturers, claims of "PFOA-free" or "PFOS-free" are meaningless, as the newer versions aren't safer. This swapping of one toxic chemical for another is referred to as a "regrettable substitution."

While our primary exposure to PFAS comes from drinking water, eating food contaminated with PFAS, interacting with furniture treated with it, and from house dust, new research may move cookware further up the list. 

A study published in late 2022 in the Science of the Total Environment found that a single scratch on a nonstick-coated pan can release thousands to over 2,300,000 microplastic and nanoplastic PFAS particles16. 

When heated to over 500 degrees Fahrenheit, PFAS-based coatings begin to break down and can release toxic PFAS gases. While manufacturers claim this happens only at temperatures well above normal cooking temperatures, when Good Housekeeping put those claims to the test, they found that a lightweight pan reached 507 degrees after just 1 minute and 45 seconds, and that temps rose to 577 degrees Fahrenheit after cooking hamburgers for 8.5 minutes in a heavyweight pan.

Clearly, pans can reach these dangerous temperates far quicker than companies claim, potentially exposing people daily to toxic PFAS fumes. 

Ceramic-coated cookware has quickly become one of the most popular types on the market, and many companies claim their ceramic pans are nontoxic. 

But contrary to their name, the coatings on these pans are not actually ceramic—they just look like ceramic. These pans do have a nonstick surface that is achieved by the use of silicon-based coatings rather than PFAS coatings. Although we don't have enough good research to confidently state that these are safe, the bigger issue with ceramic-coated cookware is that they are wasteful. 

Clay pots can be beautiful. They've been used for thousands of years, and are still a staple in millions of kitchens around the world. Unglazed clay pots are inexpensive and popular, but depending on the composition of the clay, it may leach metals17 like lead, cadmium, and arsenic18, which are all highly toxic.

Many types of clay cookware are glazed with decorative, colorful designs. While beautiful, the glazes often contain heavy metals17 like lead, cadmium, arsenic, and more and have been shown to leach into foods prepared or served in them.

Although aluminum is a great conductor of heat and an affordable metal, cooking on it does result in higher ingestion of this metal. While aluminum, the most abundant metal on earth, is found naturally in food and is a common ingredient in products like over-the-counter antacids, it's a nonessential mineral; there is no biological need for aluminum. 

Research into aluminum and its health effects is highly controversial, in particular around Alzheimer's disease.

Elevated aluminum content has been measured in the brain tissue of individuals with Alzheimer's disease21, although it is unclear if there is any causal or contributory link. There is research showing that higher levels of aluminum may be linked to inflammatory bowel disease22 in cell and animal models. 

Cast iron has been used to cook foods for centuries and if properly cared for, can become a family heirloom passed down to children and grandchildren. Properly seasoned cast iron has a naturally nonstick surface that gets better with regular use.

Seasoning is an often misunderstood and confusing concept for people, but put simply, oils and fats, when subjected to high heat will polymerize, or join together to form a thin but strong layer that becomes molecularly bound to the surface of the pan. The more you use your cast iron, the stronger that seasoning becomes, and it's this seasoning that makes the surface virtually nonstick. 

While there can be a short learning curve to using cast-iron cookware, once you get the hang of cooking on it and cleaning it, it won't ever let you down.

Stainless steel is one of the most durable cookware options that is readily accessible. Good-quality stainless steel cookware can also last a lifetime, is suitable for any kind of cooking, and is, by nearly all accounts, a very safe cooking surface. 

Stainless steel is an alloy—a mixture of metals that typically contains a small percentage of both nickel and chromium, both of which have the potential to leach in very small amounts. But for most people, this is not a concern. 

Enameled cast iron provides the heat retention properties of cast iron, with a totally inert interior cooking surface. Enamel, sometimes called porcelain enamel, is simply powdered glass that has been fused to a surface, in this case, cast iron. 

Glass is one of the most inert and safe cooking materials. While you'll be hard-pressed to find glass pots and pans these days, it's easy to find bakeware like brownie pans, loaf pans, casserole dishes, and pie pans made out of glass. 

Cookware should last a lifetime. Manufacturers of nonstick and ceramic-coated cookware know that their coatings will typically only last three to five years, but when I've written about ceramic-coated cookware, for example, I get dozens of people in the comments sharing that their coating wore off after less than six months of use. 

All these pans—typically the nonstick and ceramic-coated ones—will end up in a landfill. 

Instead of buying and rebuying your cookware every year or every few years, aim for materials that will last a lifetime. When cared for properly, cast iron, and stainless steel, in particular, can last generations. 

Cooking at home can play a big role in helping us stay healthy. In addition to seeking out nourishing foods, we can also take steps to minimize avoidable exposure to toxic chemicals that might compromise our health.