March 30, 2011 -- Families who gave up canned foods and food and beverages prepared and packaged using plastic containers saw their levels of a hormone-disrupting chemical fall by 66%, a new study shows. All it took was three days of eating only freshly prepared, organic foods.
The chemical bisphenol A (BPA) is found in many kinds of plastic food packaging, such as some water bottles, food storage containers, and sealing wrap. It is also used to line the inside of food cans.
BPA is an endocrine-disrupting chemical that has been associated with a host of health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, and infertility in adults, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.
“The study provides clear evidence that food packaging is the major source of people’s exposure to bisphenol A and the phthalate known as DEHP,” says study researcher Ruthann A. Rudel, MS, director of research for the Silent Spring Institute in Newton, Mass.
Phthalates are chemicals that make plastics strong, transparent, and clear.
“And that we found just by substituting fresh foods with limited packaging for three days, we reduced exposure levels in these participants by more than half,” Rudel says./.../
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