Bisphenol-A – commonly called BPA – is used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. These products have a variety of uses, from lining canned foods to making the plastics preferred for food containers and baby bottles.
There has been growing concern about the safety of BPA, due to its ability to act as a hormone mimic. Studies have linked our exposure to increases in obesity, diabetes, and reproductive cancers. Angel Nadal, a researcher at Miguel Hernández University in Spain, discusses the history of BPA…
“It was synthesized at the end of the last century, and as early as 1936 was described as an estrogenic compound.”
Nadal is investigating the link between BPA exposure and obesity…
“The main discovery we found is that Bisphenol-A is able to modify pancreatic beta cells. Beta cells are the cells in our bodies that synthesize and release insulin.”
His research team found that at concentrations similar to those found in our blood, BPA caused an increase in the production and release of insulin. This can lead to Hyperinsulinemia, where excess levels of insulin are circulating in the blood.
“This hyperinsulinemia, in time, can develop into obesity. In addition, we also discovered that Bisphenol-A in adults and also in offspring of mothers treated with BPA, they were insulin resistant.”
Pregnant women and children appear most vulnerable to BPA. Until there is a ban, minimize your exposure by avoiding plastics with the #7 recycling tag, using glass storage containers, and looking for canned food marked BPA-free.
Web Extra
Full interview with Angel Nadal, a researcher at Miguel Hernández University in Spain…
[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Nadal_full_bpa.mp3|titles=Nadal_full_bpa]Web Links
Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity, http://www.ajcn.org/content/79/4/537.full
The estrogenic endocrine disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA) and obesity, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303720712000056
Controversy continues over safety of bisphenol, http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60496-6/fulltext
Integration of mechanisms, effects in animals and potential to impact human health at current levels of exposure
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2967230/
Plastics, the environment and human health: current consensus and future trends
http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1526/2153.short
Photo, taken on November 12, 2007, courtesy of Alicia Voorhies via Flickr.