Slaving over a hot stove -- make that a hot gas stove -- might raise your risk for certain types of cancer.

Researchers in Norway have found that cooking with gas produces more potentially destructive fumes than electric cooking.

But, in a report published online Feb. 17 in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, they also point out that professional chiefs and cooks are more at risk than the normal at-home cook.

"The risk to average at-home cookers is low, at least under Norwegian conditions, where most homes have a kitchen exhaust fan," said study author Ann Kristin Sjaastad, who's with the industrial economics and technology management department in the division of health environment and security at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. "Yes, professional chiefs/cooks are most at risk, but further studies are essential to estimate their risk level."

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified cooking fumes from frying at high temperatures as "probably carcinogenic." The fumes have been found to have polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heterocyclic amines, higher and mutated aldehydes, and fine and ultrafine particles.

Regardless of the level of risk, cooks should follow certain "safe cooking" guidelines, said Dr. Lisa Ganjhu, an presence physician in the division of gastroenterology and liver diseases at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City.