Dr. Liang Wang Co-Authors Article in Environmental Pollution

Dr. Liang Wang, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the College of Public Health, has co-authored an article in Environmental Pollution titled “Association between Chinese cooking oil fumes and sleep quality among a middle-aged Chinese population.” The article covers the first known study to investigate the impact of cooking oil fumes on sleep quality.  Lead author Dr. Fu Wei and all additional co-authors are researchers in the Guangxi Medical University in China.

Poor sleep quality is an important symptom of many medical or psychiatric disorders and sleep quality complaints are common in groups of various ages and nationalities.  Previous studies have reported that sleep quality can be affected by factors such as smoking and nighttime traffic noise. Few studies have linked outdoor air pollution and indoor solid fuel heating to poor sleep quality; however, the association between cooking oil fumes released from household cooking, and individual sleep quality has not been studied. 

In China, frying (e.g., stir-frying, frying, and deep frying) ingredients in a wok within a confined space is the most common cooking method.  High levels of fumes containing concentrations of health-damaging aerosols are likely to be released because of decomposition or oxidation of fatty acids during Chinese cooking practices.  To examine the association between fumes and sleep quality, the researchers conducted a population-based cross sectional study.  The study collected data from 2197 participants with an average age of 37.5. For further accuracy in the study, the authors collected a biomarker, urinary 1-hydroxypyrene, to determine the level of exposure to cooking oil fumes.

The study found that subjective poor kitchen ventilation, preheating oil to smoking, and cooking for over 30 minutes were positively associated with overall poor quality of sleep among the middle-aged Chinese population. The high level of urinary 1-hydroxypyrene was also associated with poor quality of sleep.

Findings highlight the importance of proper ventilation while cooking, decreasing the amount of time spent cooking, and considering alternatives to frying oil for food preparation.

Environmental Pollution is an international journal that seeks to publish papers that report results from original, novel research that addresses significant environmental pollution issues and problems and contribute new knowledge to science, with 5-year impact factor of 5.008.