Some new Bisphenol-A research

I’m going to start this off with two quotes. The first is from a Harvard research study published in JAMA, the second from Evolutionary Psychiatry paraphrasing an article from the journal Pediatrics. Neither is funny. Both are scary.

“Urine samples were taken on the 4th and 5th days of each phase.  Urinary BPA was found in 100% of Progresso consumers and 77% of fresh soup consumers, and following the 5 days of canned soup, urinary BPA was 1221% higher than the urinary BPA of the fresh soup consumers.”

“With adjustment for confounders, each 10-fold increase in gestational BPA concentrations was associated with more anxious and depressed behavior on standardized scales, along with poorer emotional control. This was true more of girl babies than of boys.”

The first quote is from a research study in which participants ate either canned Progresso soup or fresh soup made without canned ingredients for 5 days and then switched what they ate following a 2 day break. Levels of Bisphenol-A, or BPA, was then measure in participants urine. BPA levels were not just a little higher in the canned soup group. They were 1221% higher! As my little sister would say, OMG! That’s not a small difference.

In the second quote, we read a summary of findings from the research by blogger extraordinaire, Emily Deans, MD. Dr Deans’ article about these BPA findings is “Time to Freak Out. Sensibly.” On this, Dr Deans and I do not see eye to eye. I say freak out full force! By all means, do exactly what Dr Deans says she doesn’t do and leap across the table to yank the juice box from your child’s hands. Or your pregnant friend’s hands. This second quote is from an article demonstrating that pregnant women consuming products (accidentally) containing Bisphenol-A are passing that BPA along to their fetuses and, we assume, eventually to their children via breastfeeding, too. Again, this shows a marked effect. Anxiety and depressed behavior in babies? Again, to quote little sis: OMG!

This is really nothing to scoff at. We need to be serious about avoiding environmental toxins. It is especially true when you are trying to get pregnant, are pregnant, or are a child. I find this last case to be exceptionally important (and often feed my child better quality food than I eat as a result).

And for those of you who don’t really know what Bisphenol-A (BPA) is, please read a section of Alexandra Zissu’s blog post about what BPA really is (emphasis hers):

BPA – a hormone disrupter (it mimics estrogen) that has the FDA, Health Canada, and the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ National Toxicology Program, among other entities, in a tizzy, and parents and hikers across the nation switching their baby and water bottles to BPA-free versions.  Manufacturers have taken consumer temperature and are busily marketing “safe” plastic products.  Unfortunately, some of the resulting BPA-free items contain other chemicals that are new to this arena and haven’t exactly stood the test of time.