Your cookware shapes your food and your health, here's what to know
From aluminium pots to PFAS-coated nonstick pans, the vessels we rarely questioned are now at the centre of a health reckoning—driven by new research and rising consumer awareness
Until recently, Bengaluru homemaker Rachna Mehra cooked almost everything in a lightweight aluminium kadai. But rising chatter about overheating and metal leaching pushed her toward cast iron—a switch she describes as “the first time I thought about what my pan is actually doing to the food." In Delhi, 29-year-old bachelor Amit Sharma packed away his aluminium pressure cooker after reading about leaching in acidic foods, choosing stainless steel instead.
These individual shifts are part of a broader rethinking underway in Indian households, where utensils once bought out of habit are now being evaluated for health, durability, and chemical exposure. Nonstick, aluminium, steel, cast iron, clay—materials that coexisted quietly for decades—are suddenly being interrogated for what they release under high heat and what they contribute nutritionally.
“Most of us think more about the recipe than the pan," says Dr Karthigai Selvi A, head of clinical nutrition & dietetics at Gleneagles BGS Hospital, Bengaluru. “But the cookware you pick does shape what eventually lands on your plate… If a surface overheats, you lose more nutrients without even realizing it."
THE MATERIALS WE REACH FOR
Most Indian kitchens use a mix of aluminium, stainless steel, nonstick, cast iron, ceramic-coated cookware, and occasionally, clay pots. Among these, nonstick cookware—especially older varieties containing PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances)—has drawn the most public concern. But putting everything in one danger basket is misleading, says Dr Satish Pawar, senior consultant & head – surgical oncology & robotic surgery at CARE Hospitals, Hyderabad.
“PFAS and older nonstick coatings raise concern mainly when they break down at very high heat or when the coating starts to wear out," he explains. “Long-term, heavy exposure to these chemicals has been linked to certain cancers, but the exposure from day-to-day cooking is much lower than what the older studies looked at." Selvi adds nuance: “PFAS becomes a real concern mainly when nonstick pans are overheated. In normal home cooking—sautéing, eggs, reheating—the risk is far lower than people imagine. The problem is when pans are heated empty or used on full flame."
In other words, material matters, but how you use it matters almost as much. A scratched, overheated tawa used daily is not the same as a well-kept one used on medium flame.
Aluminium, another household staple, is often dismissed as unsafe. While raw aluminium can react with acidic foods, modern cookware often uses anodized or sandwiched versions to prevent leaching—interventions many consumers overlook. A 2025 study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials highlights a potential health risk from everyday aluminium cookware in lower- and middle-income countries. Researchers tested 113 mostly new aluminium pots from 25 countries, including India, and found total lead levels ranging from under 5 parts per million (ppm) to nearly 16,000 ppm, with an average of about 1,600 ppm.
This is significant in the context of Indian cooking styles, argue Niharika Joshi and Udit Lekhi, Co-Founders of Cumin Co. “Routine Indian cooking—high-heat tadkas, repeated deep-frying, long-simmered acidic gravies—magnifies the problem," they say. “Heat, acid, and time accelerate the migration of metals and chemicals from cookware, and legacy habits of Indians keeping cheap, well-used pans for years turn small exposures into chronic ones."
Public perception today tends to swing between alarm and complacency. A single scratch can send people running to replace a pan, while visible wear on others is ignored for years. Pawar urges a middle path. “People often imagine one scratch on a pan means immediate danger, but the body doesn’t work that way. Risk comes from repeated, significant exposure over time." The greater risk lies in severe overheating—especially heating an empty nonstick pan on full flame—or using cookware well past its life span. “If someone feels unwell from fumes, sees the coating chipping, or notices a strong chemical smell when the pan heats up, that’s a sign to retire it," he says.
WHEN HEAT, CHEMICALS AND HORMONES COLLIDE
Beyond cancer risk, a parallel line of research looks at endocrine disruption—the ability of certain chemicals to interfere with hormone production, receptors, or metabolism. “Various cookware can contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals," says Dr Saurav Shishir Agrawal, senior consultant – endocrinology & diabetes at Medanta Hospital, Noida. “They alter the normal hormonal levels in our body or inhibit the production or action of endocrine hormones." The most common hormonal casualties, he says, are thyroid hormones, estrogen and androgen pathways, and even cortisol regulation. “A balance of thyroid hormone is most commonly affected by using PFAS substances, and it has been seen that women exposed to PFAS have given birth to offspring with a lower IQ."
Because of this, Agrawal recommends leaning on “stable, time-tested" materials such as stainless steel, cast iron, and well-made ceramics. Cast iron offers an added benefit: “It increases the iron content of food—useful for pregnant women, children, and those at risk of deficiency."
WHEN CONSUMERS START ASKING HARD QUESTIONS
If science is pushing people to rethink their cookware, the industry is adapting just as quickly. For Umesh Guptaa, managing director at Bergner India, the shift is unmistakable. He says, “People are reading labels, researching materials, and asking informed questions than ever before. They don’t just want a pan or a pot, they want to understand what it’s made of." A decade ago, hardly anyone asked about steel grades or rivet construction. Today, he says, it’s commonplace.
This demand has pushed the industry to improve engineering transparency and material quality. One example is the mainstreaming of Tri-Ply cookware—a three-layered construction involving steel–aluminium–steel, prized for even heating and durability. “Tri-Ply may have started as a premium category, but it’s rapidly entering the mainstream as consumers understand its tangible advantages," Guptaa notes. “I believe it will become the new normal in Indian kitchens."
“From our testing in real Indian kitchens, we repeatedly see the same failure modes in mass-market cookware: low-grade stainless steels can release measurable chromium and nickel into tomatoes and tamarind stews over repeated use; decorative or thin ceramic coatings abrade and eventually expose aluminium underneath; cheap nonstick finishes degrade and can leach PFAS-class residues or flake. By contrast, materials engineered and finished correctly—high-purity cast iron or properly fired enamel—behave predictably," Joshi and Lekhi note.
Increasingly, brands are designing tests around Indian cooking styles: high-heat tadkas, prolonged acidic simmering, and multi-year wear cycles. “Material matters, but engineering and lifecycle durability matter far more," say Joshi and Lekhi. “Buy for quality and longevity, and from brands that share their testing and manufacturing practices," they advise.
SIMPLE PRINCIPLES FOR A SAFE KITCHEN
- Don’t overheat nonstick pans or use them empty.
2. Replace cookware when surfaces peel, flake, or smell strange.
3. Use medium heat—protects both the pan and the food.
4. Prefer stable materials: stainless steel, cast iron, ceramic-coated steel.
5. Avoid very old, poorly glazed clay pots (possible lead risk).
6. Avoid PFAS- or PTFE-heavy cookware when possible.
7. If iron-deficient, consider cooking in cast iron.
8. Perhaps most surprisingly, the way you cook often matters more than the vessel. Over-charring, high-heat frying, and repeated burning pose more nutritional and carcinogenic risk than a well-used pan ever will.
Tanisha Saxena is a Delhi-based independent journalist. She writes stories that are on the intersection of art, culture and lifestyle.
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