BPA Risks Minimized

The risks of Bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical that affects hormones, could be minimized to a great extent by eating fresh produce instead of packaged food. The report brought out by nonprofit Breast Cancer Fund and the Silent Spring Institute, a breast cancer research group states that BPA is used in food-packaging material and could be absorbed into the food and cause birth defects, autism and reproductive health problems. Breast and prostate cancer, infertility, early puberty in girls, obesity and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders are other consequences of BPA.

The study, named "Food Packaging and Bisphenol A", used five families to study the effects of their eating habits. After eating packaged food for some days, the families changed to eating fresh, organic food for three days. The urinary BPA levels decreased by 60 per cent, within three days of eating fresh produce.

Janet Gray, Ph.D., director of the Program in Science, Technology and Society at Vassar College and science advisor to the Breast Cancer Fund and co-author of the study said, “We wanted to be able to ask the question: Could we have fairly simple changes in people's lives, both adults and children, that would alter their exposure and body burden of BPA?"

The answer was ‘Yes.’



Source-Medindia