Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Cooking rotis/chapatis on direct gas flame leads to the formation of harmful chemicals that cause breathing difficulties, heart diseases and even cancer.
Fact
Experts and studies say risks are very low, fears are overblown owing to the quick cooking time of rotis, which minimises the chance of formation of carcinogens.
Cooking rotis/chapatis directly on a gas flame, instead of a tawa (frying pan), is extremely dangerous to your health, warns a video creator in a recent Facebook reel, adding that it leads to the formation of harmful chemicals that cause breathing difficulties, heart diseases and even cancer. Md Yasir, whose Facebook bio states that he is the owner-CEO at gaming video page Mobile Legends Hub, uploaded the reel on December 4, 2024, which has clocked 604K likes so far.
“According to a recent article published in the journal, Environmental Science and Technology, gas stoves emit air pollutants that are dangerous to health. The WHO has also agreed to this. These pollutants are carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, which pose a risk of respiratory and heart diseases. Not only this, the chances of getting cancer increases,” reads the Hindi text superimposed on the reel, which ends with Yasir urging users to share the video so that lives can be saved.
Fact Check
Do Gas Stoves Emit Dangerous Pollutants?
There is a growing body of research showing that gas stoves emit toxic compounds, chief among them is benzene, a carcinogen. Other chemicals reportedly such as xylene, toluene and ethylbenzene, can also cause respiratory issues and cancer as well. According to this June 15, 2023 study published in Environmental Science and Technology, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, the combustion of gas and propane from stoves may cause substantial benzene exposure (the way a person can come in contact with a hazardous substance).
“While nitrogen dioxide is the main gas connected to the health risk of gas stoves, it’s not the only one. Other studies have shown stoves can release carbon monoxide, which can be life-threatening at high levels, and a suite of known carcinogens and other hazardous chemicals called volatile organic compounds, such as benzene, hexane and toluene,” reads a Bloomberg article published on Hindustan Times, dated January 22, 2023.
Carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and fine particulate matter are considered unsafe by the WHO and are linked to respiratory illness, cardiovascular problems, and cancer, along with other health conditions.
Is It Safe To Cook Roti On A Direct Flame?
While pyrolysis — a chemical reaction occurring at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen— may occur during the direct flame cooking of rotis, there is no strong scientific evidence to link it to probable formation of smaller, harmful molecules that may lead to severe health problems.
This is chiefly owing to the relatively short cooking time for rotis on a direct flame, which minimises the potential formation of these carcinogenic molecules (such as heterocyclic amines or HCAs & polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs).
“HCAs and PAHs are chemicals formed when muscle meat, including beef, pork, fish, or poultry, is cooked using high-temperature methods, such as pan frying or grilling directly over an open flame. In laboratory experiments, HCAs and PAHs have been found to be mutagenic—that is, they cause changes in DNA that may increase the risk of cancer,” reads this 2017 study published on the US government’s National Cancer Institute’s website.
According to nutritionists, research shows that while significant levels of carcinogens are produced during cooking times of 15 minutes or more, it is unlikely that the small fume exposures that people get from cooking in their homes would significantly increase their risk of cancer.
What Do The Experts Say?
Newschecker reached out to Dr. Jojo V Joseph, a senior consultant surgical oncologist at Caritas Cancer Institute in Kerala, who says that the fears are overblown. “There are some risks associated with high-temperature cooking. If you are cooking meat on a direct gas flame, there is a risk of formation of HCAs and PAHs. It generally requires 15 minutes of high-temperature cooking to produce these carcinogens. These products are rarely formed from wheat flour; moreover, rotis, which fall under the category of fast cooking, hardly take a minute or less exposure to high-temperature flames, so for all practical purposes, they can be considered safe. On the theoretical side, there are chances that unburnt gases from LPG can get deposited on the food and also affect the person who inhales these gases while cooking. Keeping the windows open and ensuring proper ventilation in the kitchen will ensure that these gases won’t enter the lungs of the person cooking the food,” he says.
Dr Meenakshi Bajaj, dietitian, Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital, Chennai, tells Newschecker that while the carcinogenic potency in tandoori roti was almost 3.7 times than that of tawa roti, there is inadequate evidence on the link between the cooking technique and heart diseases, along with breathing difficulties.
We also came across this NDTV report, dated February 20, 2024, where consultant nutritionist Rupali Datta advises caution. “Cooking over direct flame may produce harmful products like heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are linked to cancer. Although the quantity of harmful products generated may be small, cooking roti on slow heat over a tawa is deemed safer….,” Datta says, adding that cooking roti on a tawa reduces direct exposure to flames and high heat, minimising the formation of harmful compounds.
Dr Shyam Aggarwal, Delhi-based oncologist and senior consultant at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, had spoken to the Times of India about the correlation between high-temperature cooking and cancer, where he said: “We cannot link direct flame cooking with cancer…if we correlate high-temperature cooking with cancer, then the person should have been consuming such foods for a long duration. Cancer doesn’t happen on a few intakes of carcinogens. If a person consumes such foods (high-temperature) regularly, only then the carcinogens enter your body. So, I would say that there is no epidemiological evidence that reflects upon this correlation between high-temperature cooking and cancer…”
Conclusion
Although there may be concerns about the potential health risks associated with cooking rotis on direct gas flames, studies suggested that these risks were low, even as experts clarified that the fears were overblown owing to the quick cooking time of rotis, eliminating the chance of formation of harmful cancer-causing compounds.
Result: Missing Context
Sources
Conversation with Dr Jojo V Joseph, senior consultant surgical oncologist
Conversation with Dr Meenakshi Bajaj, dietitian, Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital, Chennai
NDTV report, February 20, 2024
Times of India report, April 9, 2023
Environmental Science and Technology article, June 15, 2023
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
