# Cast Iron Leeching



## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

Anyone have concerns of cast iron leeching / iron poisoning? Complete myth that cast iron could leech enough iron over time to cause issue?


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## eddy_dvyvan (May 8, 2012)

Personally im not. Actually im more worried about modern alternative cookware leeching toxins into my body than getting a slight boost of iron in my foods from cast iron.


With that said, cheap cast iron (read chinese lol) would worry me. Not due to the iron but due to the other crap they throw in. And besides cast iron cookware is a lifetime investment so why not buy US/AUSSIE ect and provide your own with a job.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

One of the reasons we started using cast iron years ago was for the iron it adds to your foods. 

I'd think that our ancestors would have had problems with it long before now.


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## GrinnanBarrett (Aug 31, 2012)

No not really. Cast iron has been used for years before we were born. I own cast iron my great grand mother had. Your real concerns should be for use of aluminium and cookware using Teflon surfaces. Cast iron is safe to use on open fires or gas ranges. If you buy a LODGE product they are made in USA. GB


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

Metals like lead and mercury accumulate over time and need to be chelated out. Iron is used and expelled at a much higher rate and is an essential mineral. Many of your vitamins have iron in them. This can become a problem in children's vitamins where the kids get the candy like vitamins and eat a whole bottle. Too much iron can kill you but I have never heard of this happening from cookware. It is far more likely that your doctor will prescribe iron supplementation than iron chelation.


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## dixiemama (Nov 28, 2012)

Have pans that are over a hundred years old--- I have no concerns about it. 

Every woman who isn't on a supplement becomes a little deficient during her monthly. Its a good thing to us them.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Ifin it did, I'd be long gone. Taint nothin worry bout.


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

There is no concern from Iron damaging health in this manner


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## 8thDayStranger (Jan 30, 2013)

OldCootHillbilly said:


> Ifin it did, I'd be long gone. Taint nothin worry bout.


X2. I've been eating out of cast iron for over 30 years with no issues.


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## cedarguy (Nov 19, 2012)

I have been using cast iron for 20+ years, no worries here. I started using it after my teflon pans started loosing their coating and I realised just where that coating was going.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

A friend of mine was a jailer. He got hit over the head with a cast iron skillet during a jail break. It broke the bottom out of the skillet. His remark to me was, "When I turned around and saw the hole in the skillet I knew I was hurt." He is one tough dude. He didn't even go down, but they did get out of the jail.


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## TechAdmin (Oct 1, 2008)

What kind of brought up this topic was a friend of mine's wife is pregnant and she made a huge batch of cabbage is a cast iron dutch oven that she just got. Well she let is stew for hours in vinegar. At the end the rust was everywhere, the iron had leeched quite a bit and there was concern if enough had leeching into the food to cause issue.


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Almost willin ta bet that dutch weren't seasoned well yet an vinegar bein a acid would do that. That be why ya treat cast properly so that seasonin just keep buildin up. Some a mine er smooth as glass from the buildup a carbon.


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## sailaway (Mar 12, 2009)

Lodge cast iron is made image USA, the foundry is in South Pittsburgh, TN. They have a real nice outlet store there. Stop I n at the TN. welcome center in Chattanooga and pick up a coupon for a 10" frying pan for $4.99. They have 2 other outlet centers with quality factory seconds at reasonable prices.

My g f has iron deficient blood and cooks on c I along with taking supplements, her doctor recommended it.


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