A recent report is suggesting that air pollution levels in domestic kitchens can be worse than even the direst outdoor air quality levels.

There are no guidelines for the amounts of airborne pollutants in our homes!

Not much technical detail in the Telegraph, but it's clear that CO and NOx are a specific problem of gas cooking.

Particulates are going to be mostly aerosols of cooking oil in various states of oxidation. Some of the oxidised products - mainly those formed at higher temperatures - could be carcinogenic. At even higher temperatures food goes through serious molecular rearrangements on the way to becoming black carbon, which is well known as a health menace in poor countries where people cook on crude solid-fuel or kerosene stoves.

VOC is a catch-all, and can include some real nasties, but many of the VOCs in a kitchen are going to be the harmless substances that make food taste and smell nice.

OK this is the Telegraph, but don't forget that virtually every known substance has been reported in the Daily Mail to be a killer, a superfood, or in some cases both.

Oh Jeez. And there was me thinking that I could breathe out at last.