New study says cooking with coal, wood can increase cardiovascular death risk

Coal, wood and charcoal might give you tastier food, but it is also upping your risk of death due to cardiovascular diseases. Ditch the solid fuels and switch to cleaner fuels!

By: Sudhakar Jha | | Updated: August 28, 2018 8:45 am

We all love to barbecue our food and enjoy the amazing taste it gives, but a new study has found that long-term use of coal, wood, or charcoal for cooking might increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death globally and with this new study out, and winters also nearing, you might want to rethink your plans of cooking outside.

For the study, the researchers assessed the link between solid fuel use for cooking and cardiovascular death. They also worked on the potential impact of using clean fuel like electricity or gas instead of solid fuel. This huge research included 3,41,730 adults aged 30-79 years from ten areas of China between 2004 to 2008 and they were interrogated about how often they cooked and the type of fuel they used at their three most recent homes. The researchers then went on to estimate the duration of exposure to solid fuels.

And after studying the materials, they came to the conclusion that air pollution from cooking with solid fuels, such as coal, wood, or charcoal, has the negative effect on your cardiovascular health and may lead to premature death.

Study author, Derrick Bennett from the University of Oxford in the UK reportedly said, “Our study suggests that people who use solid fuels for cooking should switch to electricity or gas as soon as possible.”

“We found that long-term use of solid fuels for cooking was associated with an excess risk of cardiovascular death, after accounting for established risk factors,” reportedly added another study author Zhengming Chen, a professor at the University of Oxford.

Dr. Chen also said that switching to electricity or gas may weaken the impact of previous solid fuel use, meaning that the negative connotation may be reversible.

The analysis was restricted to those who cooked at least weekly at their three most recent residences and did not have cardiovascular disease.

During the 3.4 million person-years of follow-up, 8,304 participants had died due to cardiovascular disease. Also, after taking education, smoking and other cardiovascular risk factors in to account, each decade of exposure to solid fuel was linked to a three per cent higher risk of cardiovascular death.

It was also noted that individuals who used solid fuels for more than 30 years were at a 12 per cent greater risk than those who had used them for less than ten years.

Image source: Shutterstock

Published : August 28, 2018 8:44 am | Updated:August 28, 2018 8:45 am

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