Is stainless steel cookware safe?

The stainless steel is considered a material biologically inert and generally safe for cooking , although it is more than proven that can release the food items under certain conditions, with the most concern the chromium and nickel.
Of these two elements, chromium is an essential nutrient for being human, with a recommended daily intake of 35 and 25 μg / day for men and women respectively.
Although all its functions and its mechanism of action are not exactly known, it is known that it intervenes in the metabolism of lipids and carbohydrates and that its deficit causes glucose intolerance. Of course, of all forms of chromium, the one considered an essential nutrient for humans is Cr III (oxidation state +3). Cr III is present in many foods and is the one that forms in stainless steel during passivation, as we have previously described.For its part, Cr VI is highly oxidative and carcinogenic. The presence of Cr VI in nature comes mainly from industrial pollution, especially from the oil industry.
For its part, nickel is not a nutrient for humans, although it is for many other life forms, including plants, bacteria, archaea, and fungi. For example, nickel is essential for urease ( EC 3.5.1.5 ), an enzyme used by many types of bacteria, including many of the species in our intestinal flora. In this sense, nickel could even be considered as a prebiotic.
However, although both elements must be present in our diet in one way or another, the amount we need is really low, and both metals can trigger allergic reactions, especially dermatological ones, in sensitive people.
Many studies on the release of these metals from stainless steel in kitchen utensils use foods and cooking conditions that are unusual and that would be really rare in everyday life, such as storing lemon juice for 5 days repeatedly in a stainless steel container. 201, or cook tomato sauce for 20 hours continuously also repeatedly (10).
In other studies conducted under standard conditions of use (11), the release of nickel and chromium from stainless steel in cookware to food has been found to be below the levels that trigger allergic reactions and below limits. considered safe, and in all cases, it has decreased dramatically after the first cycles of use.
Another frequent concern about chromium and nickel is its endocrine disrupting effect and the additive effect of accumulation in fatty tissue. Likewise, this effect in chromium is for Chromium VI and not for Chromium III or metallic chromium.
Nickel is also related to various forms of cancer, especially lung cancer and nasal cancer.
But the relationship between these effects and the exposure of food use of stainless steel, both domestically and industrially, has not been firmly established with the data currently available , only in work environments where exposure it is much higher and occurs to products derived from stainless steel, for example, exposure to the vapors given off by stainless steel in welding processes, or exposure to very high levels of these metals by environmental contamination.
In general, it can be concluded that stainless steel in kitchen utensils is a safe material for food use, including pans, pots and other applications that will be subject to high temperatures, and should only be avoided in case of allergy to nickel or some syndrome of sensitization to these metals.
Although avoiding it completely is going to be almost impossible, because it is a material of practically universal use in the food, hospitality, and catering services industry.

10 Pcs Non Stick Cooking Set w/ Frying Pans & Saucepans