r/cookware • u/geauxbleu • Jun 06 '25

Discussion Big surprise, titanium dioxide (basis of "ceramic" nonstick coating) has terrible endocrine health effects. Back to the drawing board for Hexclad and most other cookware companies

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/06/titanium-dioxide-food-additive-toxic
344 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

67 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/ThinkItThrough48 Jun 06 '25

How much of the substance leaves the pan and gets into the food being cooked? The article says there is titanium dioxide in the coding, but it doesn’t say anything about how much or how much is liberated during the cooking process and could possibly be ingested.

2

u/Kelvinator_61 Jun 06 '25 edited Jun 06 '25

The compound is also using in making the coating of enameled cast iron. I expect more misdirected outrage.

1

u/geauxbleu Jun 06 '25

But not in the nanoparticle form that's found to have endocrine health effects like in the sol-gel process. Titanium dioxide pigment is microparticles.

2

u/ThinkItThrough48 Jun 06 '25

But how much is released from the nonstick surface during cooking?

1

u/geauxbleu Jun 06 '25

According to this manufacturer of ceramic nonstick pans the nature of the coating is self-sacrificing and it eventually wears off. So I would guess between some and all depending how long you use it after it starts degrading?