lung cancer and exposure to cooking oil fumes

A systematic review found that higher lifetime exposure to cooking oil fumes was associated with an increased risk for lung cancer in never-smoking women in high-income countries (1):

• indoor air contains distinct pollutants which derive directly from household activities such as cooking, heating, cleaning and sweeping, or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from household furnishing
  • VOCs which are generated by cooking oils have been shown to be mutagenic, containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PACs), aldehydes, carbonyl compounds and other mutagens
• three papers were included, with a total of 3734 participants
  • all studies were conducted in Taiwan or Hong Kong, focusing on Chinese women using traditional Chinese cooking methods
  • all three found a dose/response correlation between exposure to cooking fumes and the risk of developing lung cancer in never-smokers (LCINS)

• Chen et al assessed the risk of lung cancer risk by ‘cooking time-years’, measuring exposure to cooking fumes over a participant’s lifetime, citing OR 3.17 (95% CI 1.34 to 7.68) for the highest levels of exposure
• Yu et al used ‘cooking dish-years’ as a measure of exposure to cooking fumes, with OR 8.09 (95% CI 2.57 to 25.45) for the highest exposure levels
• Ko et al found that the number of dishes cooked daily was a greater indicator of risk than the number of cooking years, citing a threefold increased risk of lung cancer among women who cooked three meals per day compared with those who cooked one (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.6 to 6.2)

• ventilation hoods were found to have a protective effect against LCINS with adjusted ORs of 0.49 (95% CI 0.32 to 0.76)
• study authors state "Exposure to cooking fumes is linked to lung cancer due to the levels of carcinogens that can be produced during the heating of oils to high temperatures. VOCs [volatile organic compounds] which are generated by cooking oils have been shown to be mutagenic, containing PACs [polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons], aldehydes, carbonyl compounds and other mutagens"

Reference:

1. McAllister BJ, Malhotra Mukhtyar R, Cai S, et al.Relationship between household air pollution and lung cancer in never smokers in high-income countries: a systematic review. BMJ Open 2025;15:e093870.