Is it harmful to cook on chlorinated water?

Before entering the faucets, the tap water goes through a special treatment, which consists in its disinfection. This process can take place in two ways - by chlorinating water( using chlorine), as well as adding chloramines, which are derivatives of ammonia( this process is called chlorination).As a result of this treatment, the chemical composition of the water changes.

During cooking, we often use iodized salt. As a result, certain reactions occur, in particular, chloramine and chlorine react with iodide present in such a salt. This leads to the formation of iodine acid.

In an isolated form this substance is harmless, but it ceases to be so after reacting with various organic substances present in tap water. It was found that this can lead to the formation of by-products of iodinated disinfection. These toxic substances are abbreviated as I-DBP and are poorly understood.

Specialists from the Hong Kong University, as well as scientists from the University of Nanking, conducted a study aimed at studying the molecules of these substances and detecting their toxicity level.

According to one of the authors of the study by Xiangzhu Zhang, the compounds of I-DBP formed as a result of cooking on chlorinated or chlorinated water are poorly studied toxicologists, chemists, and also engineers.

For a more accurate study of the properties of these compounds, scientists have simulated situations of cooking in different conditions - with different temperature regimes and different lengths of the cooking process. At the same time iodized salt and wheat flour were added to the dishes.

As a result of the study, more than a dozen new molecules were detected, nine of which had a structure. Later on, the detected molecules were studied for toxic properties and it was found that some of them are more toxic than others, in some cases the difference in this indicator reached a 200-fold excess.

All these toxic compounds can have a negative impact on health. But it can be reduced or prevented altogether. To do this, it is necessary to adhere to some of the advice given by Dr. Yan Pan, who was engaged in these studies at Nanjing University. He believes that to reduce the toxic effect of the compounds formed, it is better to add iodized salt with the content of potassium iodate.

It is also desirable that the cooking process itself take less time and pass at lower temperature conditions.

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