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Comment by alephnerd | Hacker News Reader

Most likely this.

Mustard Oil is critical for South Asian cooking and is labeled as "not for consumption" in the US.

I also wonder how much is because of immigration and the pollution in the old country (even countries like South Korea and SG have horrid AQIs)

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Mustard oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, but it also contains a special type of fatty acid called erucic acid, which lies at the center of the controversy surrounding the oil. Seeds from the brassica family of plants, which includes rapeseed and mustard, in addition to cabbage and kale, all contain varying amounts of erucic acid. Early experimental studies on animals in the 1950s suggested that erucic acid possibly had a role in the development of heart disease.

From: https://www.seriouseats.com/mustard-oil-guide (there's a lot more and it's worth a read)

east asians don't use mustard oil

Notice how I said SOUTH, and how the article notes the same issue in Indian Americans

but the article explains that the issue affects women from several different Asian American backgrounds, not just Indian Americans

Edit - however sibling comment seems to indicate that East Asians use Rapeseed Oil which presents similar issues, so you might be onto something

They use caiziyou, AKA roasted rapeseed oil, which has a high level of erucic acid, similar to mustard oil. (Rapeseed is a member of the mustard family. Canola is low-erucic acid rapeseed oil.)

Canola: CANadian Oil Low Acid

Rapeseed oil for cooking is a staple in Germany. If erucic acid or its thermal products are the cause, there would also be many cases of lung cancer in Germany.

I think this is a naming thing, canola is an English word for a variety of rapeseed, and IIUC Germany uses the same food-safe version.

that wouldn't be related to mustard gas, would it?

Full roundabout:

In the 1940s, sulfur mustard, commonly called mustard gas, and nitrogen mustard, a derivative of mustard gas, became a new form of cancer treatment.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5325736/

Mustard oil and mustard gas are only related by color. Mustard oil is made from mustard seed. Mustard gas contains sulfur and nitrogen mustards which are yellow.

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