One of the issues I wonder about and remain somewhat unclear on is when I am exposed to bisphenol-A (BPA) and when I am not. We learned some years ago (2008) that the polycarbonate sports bottles many of us were drinking water from contained bpa and that bpa affects men and juveniles in undesirable ways.
I ran across this article on bpa in Men’s Health Magazine just today and wanted to share it with you. Here’s an excerpt:
“You’ve probably heard about the links between the amount of bisphenol-A (BPA) people consume and higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, and male infertility. As a result of all the press, many companies have switched to BPA-free formulas. Then again, some haven’t—making it all the more confusing to figure out what’s OK and what to avoid. Here’s where you’re most likely to find BPA today and how to steer clear.”
Everyday Sources of BPA
Canned soup and vegetables
Risk level: high
Aluminum cans
Risk level: low
Aluminum drinking bottles
Risk level: low
Plastic sport water bottles
Risk level: medium
Bottled water
Risk level: low
Food storage containers
Risk level: medium
Store receipts
Risk level: medium
Source: http://www.menshealth.com/health/the-real-bpa-risks
Due to the discovery that I was drinking from a plastic bottle that did contain bpa I began to use a sports bottle by Camelback which is said to be bpa free. Now I learn that it may give off estrogen mimicking chemicals, particularly when left in the sun or a hot car. Read this excerpt from Environmental Health Perspectives:
“Results: Almost all commercially available plastic products we sampled, independent of the type of resin, product, or retail source, leached chemicals having reliably-detectable estrogenic activity (EA), including those advertised as BPA-free. In some cases, BPA-free products released chemicals having more EA than BPA-containing products.”
Source: NIH.gov
It appears that exposure to these toxins is increased by exposure to heat or solvents.
“Materials and Methods: We used a very sensitive, accurate, repeatable, roboticized MCF-7 cell proliferation assay to quantify the EA of chemicals leached into saline or ethanol extracts of many types of commercially available plastic materials, some exposed to common-use stresses (microwaving, UV radiation, and/or autoclaving).”
I’ve suspected this for quite some time. As our ability to measure becomes more refined we learn more about how we are loading low levels of toxins into the environment around us, and … into our bodies.
For now I remain confused. These articles did not help me identify a clear option for carrying water when I travel. Does aluminum have an inner liner? Are stainless steel water bottles really ok? Do they leache nickel? I get a metallic taste from stainless steel and that tells me that something is leaching. What is it?
Finally, is there a problem with these toxins if no heat or solvents are applied? My sense is that there is not, but I don’t know.
Here’s an update about the effects of bpa on girls at age 3 when their mother was exposed to bpa during pregnancy:
What am I going to do to prevent exposure to bpa? Drink from glass whenever I can….and keep experimenting, learning, observing…
I’ll keep you posted. Yours in health, Jim
This from Yahoo News on 11-23-2011:
BPA and health
A 2008 study of 1,455 people showed that higher urinary BPA levels were linked with higher risks of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and abnormal concentrations of certain liver enzymes, even after factors such as age, body mass index and smoking were taken into account.
And other studies have linked BPA levels in a woman’s urine during her pregnancy to health problems in her child.
It is not known how long the levels of BPA might remain high, according to the study. However, it is also not known whether such a spike, even if it isn’t sustained for very long, may affect health, the researchers wrote.
The study was limited in that all of the participants were students or staff at one school, and a single soup brand (Progresso) was tested, but the researchers wrote that they expected the results to apply to canned foods with a similar BPA content.
“Reducing canned food consumption may be a good idea, especially for people consuming foods from cans regularly,” Michels said. “Maybe manufacturers can take the step of taking BPA out of the lining of cans — some have already done this, but only a few.”
The study was funded by the Allen Foundation, which advocates nutrition research.
Pass it on: Cutting down on the amount of canned food you eat might be a good idea, researchers say.