I read somewhere that cooking with tinfoil may be bad for your health, because some microscopic aluminum particles might be chipping off when heated up and it ends up sticking to the food. It doesn't seem to have been proven, though, but still, I find it very worrying and I think tinfoil might be easy enough to avoid that it's worth not using it just to be rid of the risk altogether. I do still find it very convenient to use it, though, especially for reheating food in the oven because that way, I don't have to clean up the tray as much. What do you guys think of this? Do you think tinfoil is risky or are we just paranoid? Do you think certain brands of tinfoil are safer than others, and if so which ones?
I've never heard about this, I always see chefs using it to cover things in the oven and on frying pans in order to create steam in to cook certain dishes. But it does make sense, if there is a risk of it chipping and slipping into the food it might be dangerous.
I've never heard of this, but I'm not too concerned. I dunno when the last time was that I even cooked with aluminum foil.
Some years back their was a scare that it was a precursor to Alzheimer's Disease. But I read recently that the scare was unwarranted. If it bothers you to use it, you can avoid it easily at home. At restaurants now that's a different story. Good luck!
Interesting, but I've never heard of this happening with aluminum specifically. What I did hear was that you should never cook with hot water from your tap because it would often contain a lot of metals in it - that it was always better to use cold water instead when making things like pasta. Another concern that many people don't know much about yet, is that silver micro particles are being put in a lot of stuff, from clothing to soaps and other products. Supposedly it's a natural deodorant, but there is some concern over whether or not these tiny particles are safe or not. I've seen it used in sports clothing to help fight odors, but I also noticed it was in my Men's Nivea Body Wash too. The only cooking concerns I ever heard with aluminum was to never cook tomatoes in it, because the acid in them reacts with the aluminum and results in a bad taste.
I've never heard of this before, nor have I ever tried it, but I think that's very interesting and I'd probably be testing this out for myself soon. It does sound highly plausible to me, though, so I am guessing it's true and it's probably why you never see it advised on cooking shows. Anyway, thanks to all who have commented so far, and to others who have any further thoughts, please do still share with us your opinions on this matter.
This scare began with older aluminum pots. Every pot you have will leech a small about of material into the food you are cooking especially if you are boiling it. Alzheimers was thought to be exacerbated by aluminum and people became paranoid. Although there is a correlation between alzheimers and aluminum there isn't a causality connection. Aluminum foil was thought to be bad for the same reason the pots were. Antiperspirants were also reformulated as they used aluminum in high concentrations. It turns out that this was just a scare and no significant link has been established between the low levels of aluminum we might ingest and disease. When using foil, the foods are often let wet than when we boil so the leeching effect is reduced as well. I am not too worried about the use of foil to cook.
I feel it would be so hard to completely avoid tin foil forever. I mean even if you hardly use it at home, aren't you going to encounter the use of it somewhere? This reminds me of the many "bad for you" rumors that get spread around
Definitely seems like an urban myth. My grandmother has been cooking with tin foil diligently for my whole entire life. Everyone in the family seems to be fine and my grandparents are as healthy as ever. I would probably die if I couldn't use foil anymore, as I use it for almost every meal myself. I think tin foil has actually brought benefits to the kitchen, rather than Alzheimer's. If you want to stick with the foil that seems safest, it would appear that the more heavy duty it is the better. Reynolds and Walmart's best Value foil are pretty good choices.
