He is known for helping us sleep better and eat more healthily, but now Dr Michael Mosley is coming for your gas hob. In particular, he wants everyone to be aware of the damaging impact of in-house pollution.
Dr Mosley has drawn attention to recent research published in Nature, the world's leading science journal. It reveals how 3.2 million people worldwide are killed by indoor pollution, reports CoventryLive.
PM (particulate matter) 2.5 is the most damaging air pollutant known to human health. It has been shown to increase the risk of developing cancer, heart disease, dementia and has even been shown to cause mental illness in children.
Writing in the Daily Mail, Dr Mosley warned: "There has been a lot of research — and concern — about the quality of the air outdoors. But it's increasingly clear that we're also suffering the impact of the poor quality air in our homes."
If you cook with a gas hob, Dr Mosley recommends taking action to prevent dangerous emissions from entering your body. He says: "Cooking with gas and gas boilers produces PM2.5s... the 2.5 relates to the particle size, so these have diameters 2.5 micrometres or smaller (a human hair is about 70 micrometres)."
"What makes them dangerous is that they can penetrate deep into our lungs, then travel through our blood to organs such as the heart and the brain." To reduce the amount of 2.5 pollution in your home, Dr Mosley says: "Make sure your house is well ventilated.
"It is particularly important when you are cooking with gas to turn on the overhead extractor fan, if you have one. Overall it is healthier to bake than to fry."
The health expert also recommends rethinking using or installing a wood burning stove. These appliances produce more small particle pollution than all the road traffic in the UK combined, with some campaigners pushing for a ban in the next five years.
Dr Mosley added: "As well as damaging our hearts, lungs and brains (it's been linked to cognitive decline and dementia), inhaling polluted air affects our mood. In a study published earlier this month in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, based on the health records of nearly 400,000 Brits, people who were exposed to the least amount of air pollution were found to have the lowest levels of depression and anxiety."
