What’s the first thing that comes into your head when you think about your kitchen? A place to do your cooking, hang out with your spouse, rustle up a delicious meal or two. Well, what about the cause of your death? Scary, huh?
Turns out the kitchen isn’t as innocuous as it looks, with all its pots and pans neatly hanging there, just waiting for you to click your fingers. It’s actually a health hazard. Check out these deadly poisons lurking in your kitchen.
Potatoes
Yes, that’s right, potatoes are a deadly source of poison in your kitchen, and they could be coming to get you.
The problem is that potatoes contain a small quantity of a chemical called solanine. The potato produces these chemicals as a sort of natural fungicide, the idea being to protect the potato from rotting away as soon as it’s harvested. (Ever wondered why potatoes last so long?)
As potatoes lay there, sitting in your pantry, this solanine slowly gets to work and turns them green. Ordinary potatoes only contain about 10 milligrammes of the stuff. But old potatoes can harbor a lot more. When some people eat more than 200 milligrammes, they can experience some nasty side effects, like nausea, hypothermia and hallucinations. Never eat potatoes that are spoiled or green below the skin, and always throw away the sprouts.
Teflon Flakes
If you cook regularly using a Teflon pan, what happens? Well, if you’re not careful with the cooking implements you use, or you have a penchant for dumping it in the dishwasher every night, then the Teflon layer on your pan will peel off, potentially contaminating your food. No big deal, right? Wrong. Teflon flakes have been associated with cancer and pet birds dying of all things.
The problem of Teflon pans is easily solved by stone frying pans. Like Teflon pans, they are non-stick, but unlike Teflon pans, they don’t leach harmful chemicals into your food, no matter how badly you treat them.
Rye Bread
Rye bread is that German stuff that pretends to be like bread, but actually tastes and looks totally different. But not only is it an imposter, some food experts also say that it’s actually bad for you. It’s all because of the so-called “anti-nutrients” that it contains. These bind to vitamins and minerals in your stomach, preventing them from being absorbed by your body. The worry is that eating too much rye bread can make you deficient in certain essential nutrients, robbing you of your health and vitality.
Kitchen Surface Cleaner
We all love to spray our kitchens with anti-bacterial cleaners, truly believing that we’re doing ourselves a favor. But what if the spray we were using was actually worse than the bacteria themselves. That’s something that’s now worrying scientists.
The problem is a chemical called 2-butoxyethanol found in some multi-purpose kitchen cleaners. It’s what gives them that sweet smell, masking some of the more unpleasant smells of other chemicals in the formulation. The EPA has said that this chemical can cause lung cancer, liver and kidney damage as well as narcosis. Yikes! Better just stick to naturally sourced cleaning products from now on.
