Including iodized salt in the diet is beneficial because it helps prevent iodine deficiency disorders, such as goiter and some congenital problems (from birth), but its use in cooking can be harmful in some cases, as a study has shown that when added to drinking water to cook pasta, it can interact with chloramine, a substance used to make water drinkable, and generate by-products that could harm health. The study authors are researchers at ACS Chemistry for Life and have published their findings in Environmental Science & Technology, where they also explained four simple ways to reduce or avoid these unwanted compounds when boiling pasta.
Before it reaches consumers through kitchen or bathroom taps, drinking water is treated with chlorine or chloramine in almost all countries, and small traces of these disinfectants may remain in water used for cooking . Previous studies have shown that when wheat flour is heated in tap water containing residual chlorine and iodized table salt is added, potentially harmful iodized disinfection byproducts can be formed.
However, until now, similar studies have not been carried out with real food and in home cooking conditions. Susan Richardson and her colleagues wanted to find out if something similar could happen in real world situations and what home cooks could do to minimize the formation of disinfection byproducts.
Reduce harmful reactions from iodized salt when boiling pasta
The researchers cooked elbow macaroni in tap water that had been treated with chloramine and salt. First, they boiled the pasta according to the instructions on the package, but in other tests they changed the cooking conditions and the type of salt. Next, they measured the amounts of six iodinated trihalomethanes, which are potentially toxic compounds, in the cooked food and pasta water. They detected all iodinated trihalomethanes in cooked noodles and pasta water, but found that cooking conditions had a significant influence on the amounts.
Cooking conditions significantly influenced the amounts of potentially toxic compounds in cooked foods and in pasta water.
Based on the results obtained, the researchers have identified four ways to reduce the possible consumption of these toxic substances:
- Pasta should be boiled without a lid.
- After cooking, drain the pasta and remove the water in which it was cooked.
- Iodized table salt should be added after cooking the pasta.
- Non-iodized varieties of salt, such as kosher salt and Himalayan salt, should be chosen if home cooks want to boil pasta in salted water.
The team explained that boiling the pasta without a lid allows the vaporized chlorinated and iodinated compounds to be removed and that straining the pasta also removes most potential contaminants. Seasoning food with iodized salt after cooking should also reduce the risk of by-products forming, but non-iodized salts are recommended if you want to salt your water before boiling pasta.
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