Monmouth County's Ask the Doctor Early Spring 2022

H E A L T H Y H O M E

Does Cooking Make Your Home Sick? Poor ventilation can make kitch- en air resemble that of a smog-filled city. “When we cook most of us aren’t thinking that we are fundamental- ly changing the air quality inside our home, but making a meal can generate a lot of particles,” said Allen. Joe Allen, a professor at Harvard, heads the Har- vard School’s Healthy Buildings pro- gram. The Environmental Protection Agency defines particulate matter as matter containing microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small, they can be inhaled and cause serious health problems. “In your kitchen you can generate levels that look like a bad outdoor-air-pollution day in Beijing or Los Angeles, and depending on your type of ventilation or if you don’t have an exhaust over your stove, those levels can get high and stay high. “The science says you have to have an exhaust hood and it has to be exhausted to the outside,” he added, “otherwise, you are just collecting it and redistributing it somewhere else but not out of the house.”

ASK THE DOCTOR

EARLY SPRING 2022

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