Not to be all, womp womp, but another household item can now be added to the list of things that may hurt your unborn child. I know, I know, there's already a thousand things to worry about when you're pregnant, but I guess I thought I'd mention this study that discovered that non-stick cookware may affect your child's birth weight, and their weight throughout their lives, because, well, knowledge is power, right? Even though I'm more or less convinced that if you adhered to all the "don't"s while expecting you'll go so crazy that your unborn baby goes crazy, I suppose adding non-stick pans to the tally of potential harms is somewhat important info.
So! There's good news, there's bad news, and there's confusing news. Here we go.
The bad news is that researchers found a link between a compound called PFCs, which are found in non-stick cooking stuffs, water-resistant clothing, and some packaging products, and birth weight. The more PFCs the mother has accumulated in her lifetime in her body, the higher the possibility of a low birth weight for her baby, but a higher than average weight for him at 20 months old.
The good news is that nothing's been set in stone. Scientists see a correlation between mothers with high PFC rates and their babies' weights, but it hasn't been found to be a hard and fast rule.
The confusing news is, well, now what? It's not like avoiding non-stick pans during your pregnancy could make a giant impact on your PFC level — that's been accruing since the first day you wore a raincoat at 2 years old. Researchers say they need more data before they're able to give any helpful tips, but 'til then, they suggest not using non-stick stuff, and not heating up food in the microwave in the container in which it came. Dump your frozen meals on a plate first, then nuke it, is what I think they're saying. Safe, and classier than ever.
Non-stick pans and raincoats. Who knew?
Does this make you worried?
Photo via WordRidden/Flickr
