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Naturopath
Bisphenol A (known as BPA) is a synthetic carbon-based compound that is ubiquitous in our modern lives. BPA is used in everything from shatterproof plastic water bottles and food containers to cash register receipts and canned food and beverage linings. BPA is even found in coffee cans and beer kegs. It is literally impossible to avoid the substance completely. At least the toxic effects of BPA are now very well documented in the medical literature. And the results are not exactly appetizing. Scientific studies show that this chemical causes serious damage to the body and permanently disrupts hormone balance.
The damage can even affect future generations, for example your children and grandchildren, if you have come into contact with BPA. After these worrying findings, it is clear that we need to avoid this chemical like the plague and do everything we can to get it off the market.
In July 2018, in the first study of its kind, researchers identified another risk factor responsible for a variety of digestive disorders. The results of the study are extremely worrying. They identified BPA as a risk factor for inflammatory bowel disease.
Let's take a closer look at the toxic effects of BPA, where this harmful chemical hides and how you can best avoid it.
Most manufacturers use BPA-containing coatings to line their food and beverage cans. For someone who eats a "typical modern" diet, i.e. mainly processed/packaged food, it is practically impossible to avoid the substance. Adults mainly ingest BPA through food. It is therefore not surprising that this endocrine disruptor can now be detected in the urine of 93 percent of all Americans.
Let's start by looking at how this chemical was able to find its way into our daily lives to such an extent. The substance was developed in a laboratory in 1891. As early as the 1930s, it became clear that BPA was a synthetic substance through and through. This gave scientists the first clear evidence of its toxicity. Despite this, the booming chemical industry developed hard polycarbonate plastics after the Second World War. Around the same time, BPA was also added to epoxy resin in metal food cans.
In the decades that followed, countless studies were conducted, advisory committees met and problematic conflicts of interest arose in government bodies investigating BPA. In 2007, the first major study provided evidence that the consumption of canned foods leads to significant contamination with BPA. The Environmental Working Group's research found the highest concentrations in canned soups, pasta and infant formula. The analysis also found that many Americans are exposed to BPA at levels that exceeded those found to be harmful in laboratory studies. Yet BPA is still present in tens of thousands of consumer products today, even though the toxic health effects of BPA described below are widely known.
One of the most devastating effects of BPA is that the substance plays a major role in the development of infertility. For one of the most recent and robust studies, researchers from the University of Buea in Cameroon set out to determine the link between BPA and infertility. They discovered some shocking truths:
Females are also affected. A 2013 study by Jilin Medical College in China found that "long-term exposure of female mammals to BPA can lead to endocrine disruption, followed by morphological and functional changes in the ovary, uterus, vagina and fallopian tubes." This is associated with fertility problems. These negative effects can be observed both in women who have conceived naturally and in women who have tried to conceive using in vitro fertilization (IVF).
Another study by the University of California in San Francisco came to the conclusion that BPA damaged the egg at an early stage, even before it was released. As a result, no healthy egg was available for the subsequent IVF, which meant that the women did not become pregnant.
In 2008, even the National Toxicology Program admitted that it had some concerns about the population's current exposure to BPA. The concerns were mainly related to effects on the prostate in fetuses, infants and children, as well as on the brain and behavior, and were based on actual exposure rates that most people are exposed to every day.
In addition to impaired fertility, BPA has been linked to a wide range of health conditions, including obesity and diabetes.
In a groundbreaking study published in the journal "Experimental Biology and Medicine" in summer 2018, scientists at A&M University in Texas found that mice that consumed BPA in their diet developed symptoms commonly associated with irritable bowel syndrome or ulcerative colitis. The amounts used were comparable to what most Americans consume in their diet. Inflammatory bowel disease also includes Crohn's disease, for example.
Vitamin D deficiency plays a role in many ailments and diseases, including unwanted weight gain, cancer, insomnia, arthritis, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, etc. A September 2016 study found that exposure to BPA can lower vitamin D levels in the bloodstream. Phthalates, another toxic endocrine disruptor used in vinyl and many counterfeit fragrances, also appears to lower vitamin D levels in the body.
The study, published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, found that the group exposed to higher levels of phthalates were more likely to have low levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream than other subjects exposed to lower levels of the endocrine disrupting chemical. The scientists also discovered a link between high levels of BPA and reduced vitamin D levels in women. This link was not statistically significant in men.
Scientists believe that endocrine disruptors interfere with the way vitamin D works in the body in a similar way to how they interfere with normal reproductive and thyroid function.
In 2013, scientists from the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute were able to link BPA to obesity. They analyzed the BPA levels in the urine of 1326 schoolchildren in Shanghai. The results showed that girls with higher BPA levels were twice as likely to develop obesity as other children.
In 2011, researchers published a study that provided new insights into the link between BPA and heart disease. Their article in "PLOS One" states that BPA altered the natural heart rate of female rats. This led to cardiac arrhythmias, which in some cases cause sudden cardiac death.
According to an article published in the journal "Acta Diabetologica", "higher levels of BPA in urine are associated with prediabetes, independent of traditional diabetes risk factors."
This is particularly interesting because it shows that BPA influences glucose metabolism through insulin resistance, pancreatic β-cell dysfunction, adipogenesis, inflammation and oxidative stress, independent of personal dietary habits and fitness level.
Even small amounts of the substance can cause unexpectedly high levels of damage. A French study from 2013 showed that even a small amount of BPA per day damages tooth enamel. Although this study was carried out on rats, it nevertheless provided clues as to why dentists are increasingly finding tooth damage in children (white spots, brittle enamel in 18% of children). This could be linked to exposure to BPA in early childhood.
You are probably familiar with the term "BPA" from drinking bottles, all of which are labeled "BPA-free". However, drinking bottles are just one of many products that may contain this endocrine disruptor.
Most people are not aware that the substance can be found in many industrial products, including:
BPA is also found in many currencies around the world, in thermal paper receipts and, surprisingly, in food packaging. Exposure to BPA is classified as dangerous. Some studies show that it can cause brain damage. Harmful effects on the behavior and prostate of fetuses, infants and children have also been identified.
But BPA is not the only problem. After consumers expressed more and more concerns about these study results, the FDA finally banned the sale of baby bottles containing BPA in 2012.
Instead of bisphenol-A, manufacturers have since been using bisphenol-S (BPS) and other chemicals. However, recent studies show that these alternatives are just as bad (if not worse) than the original substance.
Recent findings show that detectable levels of BPS are present in the urine of more than 80 percent of Americans. A 2013 study from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston found that less than one trillionth of BPS can disrupt the normal function of a cell, potentially leading to metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity, asthma, birth defects or even cancer.
Lead author Professor Cheryl Watson says:
"[Manufacturers] write 'BPA-free' on their products and this is true. However, they are hiding from consumers that the substance they are using instead has not been tested as extensively or for the types of problems that BPA has been shown to cause. That's a bit disingenuous."
Other researchers have come to similar conclusions. Last year, scientists published an article in the journal "Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology". It states that "certain BPA derivatives are considered alternatives to BPA. However, some of these derivatives have undesirable side effects similar to those of BPA."
Regarding whether or not BPA-free products release estrogen-active chemicals (OA), which are associated with serious adverse health effects at "nanomolar" levels, the researchers reported:
"Almost all of the commercially available plastic products we examined - regardless of the type of resin used, the product itself or the retailer - released chemicals with reliably detectable levels of OA, including products advertised as "BPA-free". In some cases, these products released even more chemicals with more OA than the original BPA-containing products."
It is best to use containers made of glass and food-grade stainless steel. Both materials are completely safe, natural and widely available. So gradually replace your plastic containers with high-quality containers made of stainless steel (food-grade, 18/8 stainless steel) and glass.
In June 2016, EWG used industry data to build a database of 16,000 food and beverage products, all of which are packaged in materials that contain endocrine disrupting BPA.
Many people know that polycarbonate water bottles and most canned foods contain BPA. The EWG has also discovered several other products that contain BPA.
These include:
Reduce your exposure to BPA and its toxic effects by searching the EWG's database for BPA-free alternatives.
Sources (in English):
Boudalia, S., Berges, R., Chabanet, C., Folia, M., Decocg, L., Pasquis, B. et al. (2014, January-February). A multi-generational study on low-dose BPA exposure in Wistar rats: effects on maternal behavior, flavor intake and development. Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 41:16-26, doi: 10.1016/j.ntt.2013.11.002
Chen, W. Y., Shen, Y. P. & Chen, S. C. (2016, February). Assessing bisphenol A (BPA) exposure risk from long-term dietary intakes in Taiwan. The Science of the Total Environment, 543(Pt A):140-6, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.029
Manfo, F. P., Jubendradass, R., Nantia, E. A., Moundipa, P. F. & Mathur, P. P. (2014). Adverse effects of isphenol A on male reproductive function. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 228:57-82, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-01619-1_3
Yan, P. P., Pan, X. Y., Wang, X. N., Wang, Z. C., Li, Z. X., Wan, Y. et al. (2013, December). Effects of bisphenol A on the female reproductive organs and their mechanisms. Zhongguo yi xue ke xue yuan xue bao. Acta Academiae Medicinae Sinicae, 35(6):683-8, doi: 10.3881/j.issn.1000-503X.2013.06.018
Shelby, M. D. (2008, September). NTP-CERHR monograph on the potential human reproductive and developmental effects of bisphenol A. NTP CERHR MON, (22):v, vii-ix, 1-64 passim
DeLuca, J. A., Allred, K. F., Menon, R., Riordan, R., Weeks, B. R., Jayaraman, A. et al. (2018, June). Bisphenol-A alters microbiota metabolites derived from aromatic amino acids and worsens disease activity during colitis. Experimental Biology and Medicine, 243(10):864-875, doi: 10.1177/1535370218782139
Johns, L. E., Ferguson, K. K. & Meeker, J. D. (2016, November). Relationships Between Urinary Phthalate Metabolite and Bisphenol A Concentrations and Vitamin D Levels in U.S. Adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2005-2010. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 101(11):4062-4069, doi: 10.1210/jc.2016-2134
Sabanayagam, C., Teppala, S. & Shankar, A. (2013, August). Relationship between urinary bisphenol A levels and prediabetes among subjects free of diabetes. Acta Diabetologica, 50(4):625-31, doi: 10.1007/s00592-013-0472-z
Jedeon, K., De la Dure-Molla, M., Brookes, S. J., Loiodice, S., Marciano, C., Kirkham, J. et al. (2013, July). Enamel Defects Reflect Perinatal Exposure to Bisphenol A. The American Journal of Pathology, 183(1): 108–118, doi: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2013.04.004
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